Calcasieu family court judge candidates answer questions

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The three competitors in the race for District C judge put their knowledge to the test at a public forum in Lake Charles.

When asked about experience and training that qualifies them to make difficult decisions about divorce and custody, here’s how they answered.

“I’ve done many cases dealing with custody cases, and I just have experience of a vast number of issues,” Bill Cutrera said. “I believe that gives me the experience to make those tough decisions.”

“I’ve been doing family law, primarily, I’ve had hundreds of clients,” Brad Guillory said. “I’ve seen day in and day out who the good judges are and who the good judges aren’t, and to be able to put that experience and all that knowledge together, I’d love to be able to bring that to the bench.”

“I’ve been doing family law for about 30 years now, not exclusively but primarily,” Mark Judson said. “Also, as the executive director of the Southwest Louisiana Law Center, I’ve had a wonderful opportunity to work with multiple excellent agencies.”

They were also asked about their approach to cases involving the relocation of a child and the impact of that, as well as determining child support payments considering housing affordability.

“There is a formula that you use based on the percentages of income of each of the parties,” Cutrera said. “The second issue is dealing with housing affordability, and the way I look at that, basically you are dealing with a spousal support issue.”

“You have to go through the calculation, and it’s going to spit out a number,” Guillory said. “Unfortunately, what your heart wants to do and what your faith wants to do, you really can’t do a whole lot with the child support part, but luckily, you have the spousal support component.”

“Is somebody really doing the best they can to pay their child support, or are they weaseling out of it, and they have expendable dollars that could be going to child support and not going to somewhere else,” Judson said. “That would be the root cause issue that I would want to know.”

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