Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics — Familial Relationships: Opinion 10-112

NYS Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics

Familial Relationships

Disqualification

Opinion 10-112

Background: A judge who presides in a problem-solving court asked about the ethical implications of family relationships with an administrator of an agency that provides services to the defendants who appear in the judge’s court. Specifically, the judge’s spouse is responsible for overseeing the operations of a not-for-profit organization that is appointed as a coordinating agency designated to provide services in the judge’s court. Also, the organization rents office space from a family trust that he has no present interest in. The judge is, however, a residuary beneficiary.

Opinion: First, a problem-solving court judge who does not initially refer defendants to a service provider that works with the defendants who appear in the judge’s court, must disqualify himself from a proceeding involving a service provider that employs the judge’s spouse as administrator when that service provider will appear or is otherwise involved in a proceeding involving a defendant’s failure to comply with the prescribed treatment program and must transfer the case to another judge. Also, a judge who has a remainder interest in a family trust that rents office space to the parent organization of a service provider that provides services to defendants who appear in the judge’s court must disqualify himself from all matters involving the service provider.