EXPERIENCE AND CREDENTIALS OF HEARING OFFICER BUCHER:

Hearing Officer Mandi Bucher was appointed to be Hearing Officer for Iberia Parish by the Judges of the 16th JDC in July of 2024.  Since obtaining her license to practice law and prior to her appointment, Mrs. Bucher worked in as an attorney with the Law Office of Diane Sorola,  devoting her entire practice to exclusively handling family law matters.

 In addition to her appointment, Mrs. Bucher serves as an adjunct professor for Mississippi College School Law, where, since 2021, she has taught and will continue to teach, the law school’s civil law program courses on family law issues, including divorce, support, custody, and community property. Mrs. Bucher obtained her Juris Doctorate degree from Mississippi College School of Law in 2013, and Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University in 2010.

Mrs. Bucher is certified as a family law specialist by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and as a mediator and specialty mediator in child custody and visitation matters.  She is a member of the Louisiana Bar Association and its Family Law and ADR Sections, the Teche Bar Association, the Lafayette Bar Association and its Family Law Section, the Louisiana chapter of the AFCC, and the 705 Young Leaders for a Better Acadiana. She has previously served as an executive board member of the Lafayette Bar Association, and she has served as member on the Lafayette Bar Association’s Pro Bono Committee and as Community Service & Outreach Committee Chairperson and member of the Young Lawyer’s Section. She has held the positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and At-Large Member on the executive board of the Lafayette Bar Association’s Family Law Section. Mrs. Bucher has also presented several Continuing Legal Education courses and Community Outreach Seminars on various topics pertaining to Family Law, and she also coaches various sports for local youth organizations throughout the year.

ABOUT FAMILY COURT:

Family Court includes matters involving divorce, child custody and visitation between parents and/or third parties, child support, interim and final spousal support, community property, injuctions, exclusive use of property between spouses, contempt of court relative to family matters above, and other incidentals of marriage/divorce/children born out of relationships between two unmarried parties. In Family Court, it is also the job of the Hearing Officer to also hear protective order filings and Child Support Enforcement proceedings through the State of Louisiana's Support Enforcement Division.

After a family law pleading is filed with the Clerk of Court (excluding Protective Orders and CSE proceedings), the Family Law Court will schedule a Hearing Officer Conference. The goal is to get the parties to a Hearing Officer Conference within twenty-one (21)  to twenty eight (28) days from the date of filing. Once a Hearing Officer Conference is set, the matter is referred back to the Clerk of Court to set a hearing date before the Judge assigned to the case.

The parties are sent an Order setting forth their obligations and ordering the parties to provide certain information and complete certain affidavits to return to the Hearing Officer five business days (approximatley one week) prior to the hearing.

At the Hearing Officer Conference, the attorneys and parties meet with the Hearing Officer and the issues which need to be involved are discussed by the parties and/or their attorneys. An effort is made at this time to facilitate the settlement of the issues at this time between the parties so that they, the persons who are most familiar with the issues involved, can reach an agreement concerning the children, the divorce, the community property, etc.

If the parties reach an agreement on all or part of the issues at the Hearing Officer Conference, a Consent Judgment is prepared by the Hearing Officer containing the agreement of the parties and signed during the conference. If the parties reach an agreement on all of the issues, there is no need for the parties to go before a Judge. If no agreement is reached, or only a partial agreement is reached, the Hearing Officer will prepare Findings and a Recommendation for the Court which each party or their attorney will sign before they leave. The parties then have five (5) days to file an objection to all or part of the Hearing Officer's Findings and Recommendation. Objections by the parties must be specific to the each Finding and each Recommendation. The Hearing Officer's Recommendations will not become a temporary order of the Court; however, the Local Court Rules provide that any party may file a Motion, with an appropriate Order, with the Clerk, asking the Court to adopt the recommendations as a Temporary Order until the hearing before the Judge.  The Judge holds the ultimate decision on whether or not he will grant the motion. 

If no objections are filed within the time period allowed, the Hearing Officer's Findings and Recommendations are adopted as a final order of the Court, and the parties do not have to appear before the Judge on the hearing date. 

If an objection is timely filed by either or both parties, the assigned Judge will, on the rule date fixed, take testimony as to only those matters which are objected to with all matters not objected to being adopted by the Court.

After a trial on the objections, the Judge (assigned to your case) will make a finding as to all issues to which an objection has been filed and render a judgment.