Judge-y· transparency in the courtroom

Hon. William J. Fooks

Circuit Court · Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky

Bourbon County Judicial Center, 310 Main St., Paris, KY 40361

★★☆☆☆ 2.0 4 reviews
Open in Judge-y app →

Recent reviews

★★☆☆☆ Anonymous reviewer

Post Marriage / Custody Legal Knowledge: Demonstrates understanding of statutory guidelines and custodial evaluations, but struggles with enforcement mechanisms. While the bench repeatedly sets clear conditions regarding custody, supervision, and child safety, it consistently fails to apply the necessary legal remedies—such as contempt sanctions—when those explicit orders are breached. Fairness & Impartiality: Impartiality is severely undermined by an unwillingness to enforce court orders equally. Despite multiple formal motions documenting ongoing violations—including unsupervised contact and unaddressed injuries—the court repeatedly issues empty warnings without holding the non-compliant parent accountable. This creates an uneven playing field where one party follows the rules while the other ignores them without consequence. Judicial Temperament: Appears reluctant to manage defiance and maintain firm courtroom authority. While warnings are delivered from the bench, the lack of follow-through diminishes the authority of the court and emboldens repeated non-compliance. Communication: Verbal warnings and admonitions are clear on the record, but they lack weight because they are never backed by judicial action. Threatening severe consequences for order violations and consistently failing to implement them sends mixed signals and causes confusion regarding the court's actual boundaries. Timeliness: The ongoing cycle of unaddressed violations and repeated contempt filings unnecessarily prolongs litigation. Instead of resolving safety and compliance issues decisively, the delay in enforcing existing orders forces multiple return appearances and postpones necessary permanent protections for the child.

★☆☆☆☆ Litigant

Legal Knowledge: multiple violations of the constitution both KRS and US Code Fairness & Impartiality: completely bias Judicial Temperament: Threatens custody when motions and position statements cite KRS and US code violated by opposing party Communication: Refusal of verbal ruling only to rule on judgment and not release judgment until after appropriate time for objections. Timeliness: Refusal to verbalize judgement in court only to make judgement and withhold until after legal allotted time for objection.

★★★☆☆ Court watcher

custody