A New Day is Dawning

I remember back when I was first starting to practice law. At that time, there were three possible locations for a family law matter in Philadelphia: some matters were in City Hall, some were at 1801 Vine Street, and other matters were at 1600 Walnut Street. At some point in the 1990’s, Family Court was to be consolidated into a single building: 34 South 11th Street. This location was just to be for Domestic Relations Matters. Juvenile and Dependency proceedings and Adoption proceedings were to remain at 1801 Vine Street. Since that move, the needs of Family Court in Philadelphia have expanded – or at least there was a recognition that it would be better for people to use different entrances to different aspects of Family Court instead of walking through the maze of hallways that connected 34 South 11th Street (main court building), 42 South 11th Street (custody and divorce masters), 27 South 12th Street (support masters and some judicial chambers), and 1133 Chestnut Street (court filings). All of these addresses have been used by Family Court in Philadelphia for different proceedings.

All that is changing in the next few weeks. The new Family Court building, which is going to be named after Justice Ronald Castille, will be open for business on November 17, 2014. The new building is located at 1501 Arch Street. It is a single multi-level building which will house ALL of Family Court – Domestic Relations and Dependency. Family Court will be closed from November 7th through November 14th as the courthouse files and other things are physically moved and the new courthouse is set up.

Things may be hectic for parties who have been scheduled for hearings in the old buildings as they will be getting notices of the new location (if not a new date) for their court appearances.