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Who are the Judges and Commissioners in the King County and
Washington State Family Court system anyways? What are their respective roles and differences?
(There have been some recent additions to the Commissioners listings in May 2009.)
Below is a listing of contact information, however, I would like to let you in on
some important information regarding their roles.
Commissioners are paid, at last checking about $115,000 per year as opposed the
the Superior Court Judges making $121,000 per year. Wow! Big difference, right?
No, not at all. And make no mistake that the Commissioners usually have a
more lasting impact in family law cases than the elected Judges. The Commissioners
are not elected but apply for their job after having a successful family law career
either in the private or public side, or both. Their is a mix on the bench.
The judges can overturn their decisions on what are called Motions for Revision
of a Commissioner's Ruling. Normally you don't win on a motion for revision.
But sometimes you do, and it happens from time to time that too many cases were
flying through the court on that particular day. Often times the Commissioners
have been on the bench for longer than the judges because they just do their job
and don't have to worry about being re-elected. Sometimes I wish they would
change the name to "Family Court Judge" to make their role more clear. But
at any rate, you have to respect their decisions as much (perhaps even more) than
the judge's. Some decide to run for judge, others don't and remain to be called
on to actually design and write local and state "civil procedure" laws and rules. These rules
govern how the Judge's and Commissioner's in the future will handle cases and evidence and scheduling
and time for arguments on certain types of case dockets. These are laws which they write to govern actual
Court room processing of cases, evidence, witnesses, declarations, admissibility, deadlines, and many
other fundamental matters deeply affecting your case.
King County Superior Court Decision-Makers
516 3rd Ave, Rm C-203
Seattle, WA 98104-2361
Phone: 206-296-9100
Fax: 206-296-0986
TDD: 206-205-5048
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Sharon S. Armstrong, Judge
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Suzanne M. Barnett, Judge
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Greg P. Canova, Judge
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Cheryl B. Carey, Judge
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Susan J. Craighead, Judge
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Andrea A. Darvas, Judge
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James A. Doerty, Judge
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William L. Downing, Judge
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Theresa B. Doyle, Judge
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Joan E. DuBuque, Judge
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Richard D. Eadie, Judge
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John P. Erlick, Judge
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Michael J. Fox, Judge
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Glenna S. Hall, Judge
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Helen L. Halpert, Judge
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Michael C. Hayden, Judge
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Bruce E. Heller, Judge
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Bruce W. Hilyer, Judge
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Paris K. Kallas, Judge
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Linda Lau, Judge
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Dean S. Lum, Judge
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Nicole MacInnes, Judge
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Douglas D. McBroom, Judge
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Harry J. McCarthy, Judge
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Charles W. Mertel, Judge
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Jeffrey M. Ramsdell, Judge
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Mary E. Roberts, Judge
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J. Wesley Saint Clair, Judge
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Catherine D. Shaffer, Judge
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Julie A. Spector, Judge
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Michael J. Trickey, Judge
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Chris Washington, Judge
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Elizabeth Castilleja, Commissioner
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Ken Comstock, Commissioner
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Hollis Holman, Commissioner
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Leonid Ponomarchuk, Commissioner
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Lori Kay Smith, Commissioner
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Eric Watness, Commissioner
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Carlos Velategui, Ex Parte Commissioner
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Paul Sherfey, Chief Administrative Officer
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Linda Ridge, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer
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516 3rd Ave, Rm E609
Seattle, WA 98104-2363
Phone: 206-296-9300
TDD: 206-296-0100
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Barbara Miner, Director and Superior Court Clerk
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206-296-7844
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401 4th Ave N, Rm 2D
Kent, WA 98032-4429
Phone: 206-205-2501
Fax: 206-205-2585
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James D. Cayce, Judge
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Deborah D. Fleck, Judge
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Brian D. Gain, Judge
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Steven C. Gonzalez, Judge
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Michael J. Heavey, Judge
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Laura C. Inveen, Judge
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George T. Mattson, Judge
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Richard F. McDermott, Judge
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Laura Gene Middaugh, Judge
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Douglass A. North, Judge
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Kimberley Prochnau, Judge
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Palmer Robinson, Judge
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James E. Rogers, Judge
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Jay V. White, Judge
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Mary I. Yu, Judge
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Nancy Bradburn-Johnson, Commissioner
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Mark J. Hillman, Commissioner
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Jaqueline Jeske, Commissioner
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Meg Sassaman, Commissioner
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Marilyn Sellers, Commissioner
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1211 E Alder St
Seattle, WA 98122-5553
Phone: 206-205-9422
Fax: 206-205-9408
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Patricia Hall Clark, Judge
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Philip G. Hubbard, Judge
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Ronald Kessler, Judge
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LeRoy McCullough, Judge
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Carol A. Schapira, Judge
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Richard A. Gallaher, Commissioner
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Bonnie Canada-Thurston, Becca Commissioner
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Nancy Bradburn-Johnson, Juvenile Commissioner
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Judges are elected at the ballot and, at the end of the day,
screened
for their talent and aptitude by you the voters based on how you view the endorsements you carefully read
in your voter's pamphlet on election day. Commissioners get their job through a competition of resumes with other
lawyers applying for the position. Nonlawyers have nothing to do with it. They are chosen only on the basis of
successful past acheivements in Court over the years, and the impression it has made on other attorneys and the judges who will give them
the position. The Court rules of procedure and policies on Commissioners we're written so that
the judges themselves, once having decided on one, make it very hard even for themselves to remove that commissioner
without very substantial support among all the other judges.
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Here is a list of each Judge and Commissioner in the Snohomish county Family Law or "Divorce" Court.
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Cities Served For Agreed Divorces Span All WA city and county regions such as Spokane, Yakima, Everett, Bellingham, Bellevue, Burien, Battleground,
Tacoma, Seattle, Bellevue and Bothell. To serve as your child custody attorney, or for contested divorce matters such as changing Washington State
Child support orders, parenting plan trial or litigation hearings, contempt for denial of visitation or custody rights, in such cases nomally
I take them in the Seattle, Bellevue, and Everett to Tacoma corridor. But I make more than a few exceptions and as of 1/1/2009 have litigation cases
in a few cities such as Vancouver, WA and even Spokane pending.
Copyright 2008, All
Rights Reserved -Seattle Divorce and Custody Attorney, Robert E. Stark, Attorney, 4500 9th Ave, Ste 300, Seattle, WA 98105
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