From left to right, Paul Rice, Rice & Rose Law, Kim
Bannister, Staff Attorney for Community Services of
Mid-Florida, Kathie Selover, Executive Director of the
Volusia County Bar Association, and Bob Sterner, Senior
Deputy Court Administrator, Family Court Services.
Paul Rice, as chair of the
Volusia
County Bar Association's Family Law Section, hosted a
luncheon meeting on May 20, 2008 for the purpose of creating
a volunteer guardian ad litem program for custody cases in
Volusia County.
Recent budget cuts have left family law judges around the
state without necessary support services to assist them in
difficult divorce and paternity cases involving custody and
visitation issues. The program will create a large bank of
volunteer guardians, consisting of local lawyers who can
earn pro bono hours, who may be appointed by family judges
to protect children and make custody evaluations, among
other things, in contested custody cases.
In attendance at the meeting were Paul Rice, Rice & Rose
Law, Kim Bannister, Staff Attorney for Community Services of
Mid-Florida, Kathie Selover, Executive Director of the
Volusia County Bar Association, and Bob Sterner, Senior
Deputy Court Administrator, Family Court Services. This
project has been undertaken at the request of the Honorable
S. James Foxman, Administrative Family Law Judge for the
Seventh Judicial Circuit, which covers Volusia, Flagler, St.
John's and Putnam counties.
