"He turns 62 on June 1, and he's ready to do something else," said Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle, his ex-wife. She said her ex-husband's immediate plans involve taking sailing lessons off the coast of California.

"He just wants to decompress for a while," she said. "He'll be coming back as a senior judge at some point."

Gerald Hardcastle left private practice to take office in the newly created Family Court in 1993. For most of his years there, he presided over juvenile cases.

He drew controversy in recent years for his handling of the Brittney Bergeron case. He refused to grant Brittney's request to terminate the parental rights of her mother, Tamara Schmidt.

In October 2005, Schmidt received a prison term of four to 12 years for leaving her two daughters alone at their Mesquite home, where they faced a knife attack by intruders. Schmidt's husband, Robert, received a sentence of two to 10 years.

Authorities said the girls were stabbed in January 2003 by two Utah teenagers in revenge for a bogus methamphetamine deal orchestrated by the Schmidts, who were girlfriend and boyfriend at the time.

Brittney, then 10, was paralyzed from the waist down, and her 3-year-old sister, Kristyanna Cowan, was killed.

Hardcastle's decision was on appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court in February when Tamara Schmidt, still a prisoner, formally relinquished her parental rights and signed an open adoption agreement with the foster parents who have shared their home with Brittney for five years.

"This job is pretty hard on people, especially in Family Court," Kathy Hardcastle said Wednesday.

She said Gerald Hardcastle builds model ships for relaxation, and she still has one on display in her office.

Gibbons will appoint a replacement for Gerald Hardcastle, whose term ends in 2010, after receiving the names of three nominees from the Commission on Judicial Selection.

Contact reporter Carri Geer Thevenot at cgeer@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0264.