How Maine’s Government Can Improve Family Court Process for Families 

The Role of Maine’s Three Coequal Branches of Government

Maine’s government is structured around three coequal branches. Each branch has a distinct role, and none controls the others. Meaningful reform occurs only when each acts within its constitutional authority.

Legislative Branch

The Legislative Branch is responsible for making the law. In the context of family court systems, the Legislature’s authority is structural. It can establish clearer procedures, define timelines, require sequencing that prioritizes child safety and stability, and mandate transparency and accountability. The Legislature cannot decide individual cases, but it can determine how cases are processed.

Executive Branch

The Executive Branch is responsible for administering and resourcing government. This includes proposing budgets, filling vacancies, and coordinating state agencies whose work intersects with families involved in court proceedings. The Executive does not control judicial outcomes, but it materially affects capacity, coordination, and implementation.

Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting and applying the law. It administers the courts, sets procedural rules, manages caseloads, and oversees how cases move through the system. Judicial independence protects decision-making in individual cases, but the judiciary retains authority over administrative processes and case management.

What the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Can Do

(Administrative and procedural authority — not case-specific)

Within its existing authority, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court can take steps that improve efficiency without compromising judicial independence, including:

• Revising court rules to require clearer sequencing, earlier neutral fact-finding, and fewer redundant interim hearings.
  
  

• Establishing statewide case-management standards that prioritize time-sensitive matters affecting children.
  
  

• Expanding and formalizing alternative dispute resolution pathways, such as mediation, referees, and triage systems, to reduce unnecessary litigation.
  
  

• Requiring consistent, transparent reporting on case timelines and movement to identify where delay occurs and why.
  
  

These actions focus on how cases move through the system, not on how judges decide outcomes.

What the Office of the Governor Can Do

(Capacity, coordination, and implementation)

While the Governor cannot direct courts or judicial decisions, the Executive Branch can meaningfully affect system performance by:

• Proposing and supporting budgets that expand judicial capacity, court clerks, referees, and mediation services where backlogs exist.
  
  

• Prioritizing appointments to judicial vacancies to reduce delays caused by understaffing.
  
  

• Improving coordination among executive agencies — including health, education, and child welfare — so families are not delayed by inter-agency fragmentation.
  
  

• Supporting modernization of data systems and technology to improve scheduling, tracking, and transparency.
  
  

These actions address whether the system has the resources and coordination needed to function effectively.

Why This Matters for Families

The Legislature can lock in more efficient process.
The Judiciary can administer that process effectively.
The Executive can ensure the system has the capacity to operate.

None of these roles determine outcomes in individual cases.
All of them determine whether families experience months or years of unnecessary delay.

Efficient, child-centered process is not about control.
It is about ensuring that when children are affected, time is treated as consequential — not neutral.