The Senate Judiciary Committee is hearing a bill by Sen. Julie Quinn, R-Metarie, which would require a feasibility study to place family courts or domestic relations division in judicial districts throughout the state.

“We want to look at the best practices, not only in the country but the world, and come up with the best possible court scenario in each district of the state,” Quinn said.

The courts would specialize in family law cases such as divorce, child custody, property splits and more, a sector of the law thought to be the toughest “because of the emotions involved,” said Covington’s Edmund “Ted” Wegener Jr., a 37-year family law attorney and co-vice chairman of the Committee to Implement Family Court with the Louisiana Bar Association. SB46 accompanies SB91, also authored by Quinn that would require two new judgeships at the 22nd Judicial Court in Covington to handle all family and juvenile cases.

Already approved by the Senate, the bill, if approved by the House and signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal, could shave wait times for family disputes by 50 percent, said Wegener.

It’s also important because the judge sees the same families and knows the cases intimately, he said.

“These cases are going to last until the children is 18,” Wegener said. “They have a long shelf life, so it’s important to have a judge that sees them throughout their life.”

Wegener said while Quinn’s SB46 is a lofty goal, some districts may not be large enough to handle a family court.

Some districts, for example, only boast one to three judges who preside over every case. It might not be fiscally possible to implement family courts in those areas, he said.

But Quinn said one idea the study may unearth is adding psychologists and social workers to the division rather than lawyers.

“Lawyers tend to be inflammatory, but in a domestic situation may not be the best” to remedy a situation,” Quinn said.