Lynn Candace Toler is an American lawyer and, previously, the arbitrator on the court seriesDivorce Court. On March 5, 2020, after thirteen consecutive years, Toler announced her departure from the series.
Toler served as sole municipal judge in Cleveland HeightsMunicipal Court for eight years after working as an attorney specializing in civil matters. At 34 years old, she won her first judicial race by just six votes as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic district where Democrats held a 5:1 majority. Her cases involved all misdemeanor crimes, traffic, and minor cost civil cases within an inner ring suburb of Cleveland, Ohio of about 50,000 residents. When re-elected in 2000 she garnered 80% of the vote. Toler was known for enforcing nontraditional judgments, such as hand written essays. While on the bench she created and ran a mentoring program for teenage girls. During this time, she served on many boards including The Juvenile Diabetes Board, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center. In 2002, she received The Humanitarian of the Year Award from The Cleveland Domestic Violence Center. While serving as a retired judge between 2001 and 2006, Toler became an adjunct professor at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio, where she created, and taught, courses on Civil Rights Law and Women's Rights.
Television
As the level-headed arbiter of Divorce Court, Toler is usually seen providing counsel, words of wisdom, and trying to talk sense into the show's outrageous couples. She has a strident vocal timbre and uses emphasis in much of her speech. Prior to becoming the arbitrator of Divorce Court, she hosted the short-lived court show Power of Attorney. In 2007, while hosting Divorce Court, she expanded her television presence by becoming the host of the prime time television show and MyNetworkTV's Decision House. In 2008 and 2009, Toler was a bi-monthly contributor on News and Notes, a weekly news show on National Public Radio. In 2009, she became a co-executive producer of Wedlock or Deadlock, a syndicated limited-city series based on a segment of Divorce Court. Toler has guest-starred on The Ricki Lake Show as a marriage counselor. Toler can now be seen on WE tv's hit show Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars. She departed Divorce Court after thirteen years in March of 2020.
Books
Toler is the author of My Mother's Rules: A Practical Guide to Becoming an Emotional Genius, in which she describes lessons her mother, Shirley, taught her to handle both her father Bill Toler's erratic behavior and her own inner demons. She describes how this later came in handy when dealing with emotional people from the bench. She also discusses how to apply these rules to everyday life. In 2009, her second book, Put it In Writing, was published. This book contains agreements for use in common but uncomfortable situations between family and friends, such as lending money, and grown children returning home.
Personal life
Toler resides in Mesa, Arizona, with her husband, Eric Mumford. They married in 1990 and have two sons and four stepsons.
