Judge Taylor retires, replacement TBA

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The top post at Van Wert County Probate/Juvenile Court is now vacant and when it will be filled remains to be seen.

Judge Kevin Taylor officially retired on December 31. He had served in that roled since 2012 and prior to that, he had served as an assistant prosecutor for more than a quarter of century. Now, it’s now up to Governor Mike DeWine to fill the vacancy on the bench, but it’s not known when that will happen.

Appearing on a recent segment of 99.7FM WKSD/WERT 1220AM/104.3FM’s Commissioners Corner/Mayor’s Conference program, the now-retired Taylor said three names have been submitted to Governor Mike DeWine, who will ultimately make the decision.

“My understanding is they’ve done all the interviewing and now they’re at the vetting stage,” he explained. “They filled the position up in Fulton County last week, which had been open since August. We’ve been in touch with the governor’s office and reminded them that when January 1 comes or the first work day, there won’t be a judge here.”

Until a replacement is named, Van Wert County Common Pleas Court Judge Martin D. Burchfield will help as he can, and Taylor said another judge who does juvenile and probate work exclusively may be available to help until the vacancy is filled. The term runs until early 2027.

Taylor acknowleged the legal system has become more complex and it was noted the job of probate and juvenile court judge isn’t an easy one. Along with handling criminal matters involving juveniles, the juvenile court has jurisdiction over paternity actions and custody cases.

“Typically, it’s a grandparent or an aunt and uncle and the parents may agree or not agree but they may feel there’s a need to have a custody order, that the parents aren’t taking care of the child,” Taylor explained. “Paternity actions have to be filed in juvenile court so those are all filed there. If there’s a child support action, those are typically filed in juvenile court.”

“Over the years, there’s more action sometimes in my court than in the domestic relations part of Common Pleas Court,” he said. “Fewer people are getting married these days and so if they have a problem with custody and they’re not married then it comes to my court. If they’re married it stays in the General Division. Fortunately, we have one magistrate that’s shared between the General Division and my division and she handles all of the domestic cases in Judge Burchfield’s court and she handles the private custody cases, as we call them, in juvenile court.”

In terms of juvenile crime in the county, Taylor said the numbers can fluxuate, but he noted such crimes have actually decreased in recent years.

“Five or six years ago we had 25-30 felonies (involving juveniles) but this year we’ll have less than 10,” Taylor stated. “They encourage us not to have felonies – if I send someone to DYS (Department of Youth Services), then we lose money that we would otherwise get from the state to help run the court, so they really encourage us to try to avoid that.”

He added the county has very few cases where juveniles are serious criminals, but he did say there are more cases involving unruly juveniles.

“We use a diversion program which is strongly encouraged by the (Ohio) Supreme Court,” Taylor said of dealing with those types of cases. “If I get a case, usually involving first time offender, not a felony, we put them through the diversion program where we have one of our people who works for the probation department meet with the family and the victims and we try to avoid having an official record on that person at that stage. Usually by the second time and definitely after that, the diversion’s not an option, but we’ve had very good success with cases we’ve taken through diversion not coming back to court, so we’re real happy with the success of that program.”

In retirement, Taylor said he has no plans to serve as a visiting judge, but he added he’s licensed for two more years.

Judge Taylor penned a farewell letter, which can be found on the Opinion page.