Judge Pratt announces May retirement
The Journal Gazette
Allen Superior Judge Charles F. Pratt announced Monday he'll retire May 1 after more than 22 years on the bench of the court's Family Relations Division.
Pratt has been part of the Allen County judiciary for more than 40 years. He was a law clerk in 1979 and 1980 and was first elected judge in 1998, taking office in 1999. He was re-elected in 2004, 2010 and 2016.
From 1985 until he became a judge, Pratt was a magistrate in the Family Relations Division. Before that, he was a judicial referee in Superior Court's Civil Division.
As a judge, Pratt has presided mainly over family relations, adoption and children in need of services (CHINS) cases. He has handled more than 200 adoptions each year and organized an annual Adoption Day for nearly 15 years.