Rule 11.Jurisdiction of judge of adjoining circuit

Rule 11 keeps a circuit from going dark.

When it operates

Two conditions must hold together. A judicial circuit must be without a resident family court judge — by reason of death, absence, disqualification or otherwise — and no other family court judge, special or regular, is presiding there.

The second condition matters: if a special judge is already sitting, the circuit is not without a judge and this rule does not come into play.

What then happens

Jurisdiction in all matters arising in that circuit is conferred upon and shall be exercised by a resident family court judge of any adjoining circuit, or by any family court judge presiding there.

Note that jurisdiction is conferred by the rule itself. No transfer order, no administrative assignment, no motion. The authority attaches when the circumstances exist.

The check

Because the authority attaches automatically, the rule supplies its own verification: any judge exercising it shall first satisfy himself of the necessity of doing so by affidavit of the moving party.

So the party asking an adjoining circuit's judge to act must swear to the facts that make it necessary, and the judge must be satisfied before proceeding. That affidavit is the record of why a judge from another circuit heard the matter.