Meridian’s Robbie Jones adds family master to list of judicial roles

Published 5:26 pm Friday, September 13, 2019

When Robbie Jones graduated from Mississippi State in 1974, he thought he was going to work in the railroad business.

“Both my grandfather and father worked on the railroad,” Jones said. “But I decided I wanted to pursue a law career.”

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After finishing law school, Jones would eventually serve a number of judicial roles, such as a city judge in Meridian and other local communities. 

Now, with many successes in his 40-year legal career, the veteran attorney is ready to take on a new role as a family master for the District 12 Chancery Court, which covers Lauderdale and Clarke counties.

The new role will help the chancery court expedite cases involving divorce and child support. Sending those cases to the family master will give chancery judges more time to focus on more complex or complicated cases, Jones said. 

“It will reduce the chancery court docket and also provide a mechanism for people who need to be able to get in the courthouse who don’t have economic resources to hire a full-time lawyer to represent them,” Jones said.

Chancery Court Judge Larry Primeaux said the court has 333 pending cases, and hearing each case can take a long time. An average of 800 to 900 cases is heard each year, he said. 

Primeaux said he hopes the new position will speed up the court process while making sure cases are being heard at a reasonable time.

“It will help alleviate crowding on the docket, but the main benefit is that it will give people greater access to the courts because they will be able to represent themselves,” he said.

Before the family master position was established, people owing child support had two choices – wait for the case to go through chancery court, or set up a payment plan. Jones said the payment program was discontinued because it wasn’t  economically feasible.

The new system will allow the court to collect child support while handling cases at the same time. Parents can also represent themselves in court if they cannot afford a lawyer. Jones said some cases could be settled in a day, depending on how complex they are. 

Jones will also handle paternity tests for married and unmarried individuals.

Chancery Court Judge Charlie Smith said the family master role allows for more  personal interaction with clients. Parties in a case can agree on a solution without having to go to trial, he said. 

“The family master job, you can sit down, talk with the parties more informally than the judges,” Smith said.

Primeaux said Jones, who will officially take the post on Oct. 1, will serve as family master in Lauderdale County twice a month and once a month in Clarke County. The position will last six months, when Jones will have to reapply, Primeaux said. 

Jones said since the position is part time, he will still be able to handle criminal cases in area municipal courts while running his law office.