The State Bar Association of North Dakota Spring 2015 Gavel Magazine | Page 17

JUVENILE RULE AMENDMENTS
NOW IN EFFECT
The board sent the rule proposals to the
Supreme Court, which approved them after
referral to the Joint Procedure Committee
and a public comment period. Below are the
changes that took effect May 1.

MIKE HAGBURG
Attorney at Law
Significant amendments to the Rules of
Juvenile Procedure, including two new
juvenile rules, took effect May 1, 2015.
Under the amendments, procedural
language that had previously been part of
the North Dakota Unified Judicial System
Policies was moved to the juvenile rules.
In 2013, the Juvenile Policy Board began a
review of internal judicial system policies
relating to juvenile court and juvenile
procedure. The board decided that policy
language on juvenile court procedures
should be transferred to the procedural
rules so that procedural guidelines for
juvenile court would be more accessible to
the public.
In the process of moving the policy
language out to the rules, the board also
updated and consolidated procedural
language. Ultimately, the board developed
amendments to five Rules of Juvenile
Procedure: Rule 2 (Hearing Time),
Rule 3 (Contents of Petition), Rule 5
(Summons), Rule 10 (Presence, Default),
and Rule 17 ( Juvenile Court Guardian ad
Litem). It also drafted two wholly new
rules using language from juvenile policies:
Rule 18 (Disposition; Conditions) and
Rule 19 ( Juvenile Records).

Rule 2 was amended to require the court to
make findings on alternatives to detention;
to require an additional detention hearing if
a case is not disposed of within 60 days and
the child remains in detention; to clarify that
petition hearings are optional in continued
foster care matters under N.D.C.C. § 2720-30.1; and to add a provision allowing
the court to use contemporaneous audio
or audiovisual transmis ͥ