Watch the full proceeding
Jurors review the complete available trial or evidentiary hearing—not selected clips—so testimony, rulings, and context remain intact.
Public education · Court transparency · Research
What would a jury of your peers decide?
Family Law Jury is a proposed public-interest initiative inviting ordinary people to examine the record, evaluate the evidence, and compare their conclusions with the family court.
Community verdicts are educational and research-oriented. They do not replace judges or carry legal authority.
Community panel3 jurors
Same record.
Independent judgment.
AIndividual view
BIndividual view
CIndividual view
EvidenceDeliberationCommunity verdict
01 / The premise
“Rather than simply telling the public that family court works—or does not work—we want people to read the record, watch the proceedings, evaluate the evidence, and decide for themselves.”
Family-law decisions shape homes, childhoods, finances, and futures. Yet the reasoning behind those decisions can feel distant from the communities they affect.
This project creates a structured way to observe, learn, decide, and compare—while preserving nuance instead of reducing a case to a headline.
02 / The model
One record.
Three perspectives.
A repeatable five-step process separates independent judgment, group deliberation, and comparison with the court.
Apply neutral instructions
Standardized instructions identify the legal questions and factual inputs without steering jurors toward an outcome.
Decide independently
Each juror completes an individual verdict form before speaking with anyone else, preserving three unfiltered assessments.
Deliberate together
The three jurors compare conclusions and attempt unanimity. Majority and minority views are preserved when they differ.
Compare with the court
Only afterward do jurors review the court’s decision and document where—and why—their reasoning converged or diverged.
03 / Structured decisions
From opinion to
concrete outcomes.
Jurors use standardized tools to make choices that can be examined and compared across cases.
Property & debt
Identify marital and nonmarital property, values, obligations, and proposed distributions using jurisdiction-specific inputs.
- Asset classification
- Valuation
- Distribution
Custody & parenting
Work through statutory best-interest factors to construct a practical, detailed parenting arrangement.
- Decision-making
- Parenting time
- Holidays & exchanges
Child support
Determine evidence-supported factual inputs, then apply the jurisdiction’s formula separately from subjective judgment.
- Verified inputs
- Formula application
- Transparent result
04 / The research
Individual stories can become measurable insight.
With voluntary demographic and life-experience information, aggregated results could help researchers understand how people evaluate family-law disputes—without turning any one participant’s experience into the whole story.
Learn about participating →01
How often do three independent jurors initially agree?
02
Does lived experience affect parenting-plan decisions?
03
Which issues produce the greatest disagreement?
04
How often does a community verdict match the court?
05 / Observable accountability
Review the work,
not the reputation.
Jurors separately evaluate observable features of the proceeding before discussing their impressions. Reviews focus on what happened in the record—not rumor, popularity, or a participant’s personal outcome.
06 / Published records
A case library built for understanding.
Future participating cases can be published in a consistent format so readers can follow the evidence, decisions, and comparison from beginning to end.
In developmentRead the Record library
The case→The evidence→Juror decisions→Community verdict→Court comparison
Publication standard
Only proceedings and materials that can lawfully and responsibly be made available will be included.
07 / Guiding principles
Full context
Complete available proceedings over selective excerpts.
Neutral tools
Instructions clarify the task without directing the result.
Independent thought
Individual conclusions are preserved before deliberation.
Responsible access
Privacy, law, and participant safety shape publication.
Help shape the next stage
A more transparent family court starts with careful public attention.
We are developing the framework, safeguards, jury materials, and publication standards. Researchers, reform advocates, legal professionals, and prospective community jurors are invited to follow the project.