Step 9: The Uncontested Divorce Hearing or "Is That All There Is?!"

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Nancy Van Tine

Hello there,

The uncontested divorce hearing is often a culture shock to the participants.  While there is a great deal of ceremony around the actual act of marriage, divorce itself has all the charm of a trip to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Everyone needs to attend the hearing.  When the case name is called the clients and their attorneys stand at the counsel table.  The Judge may or may not read the agreement.  The attorney for the plaintiff (remember the plaintiff?  He or she is the one who filed) asks her client a series of very simple questions, name, address, date of marriage, date of separation, etc.  The Judge will ask the same questions if there aren't attorneys present and then the Judge will ask each party if the financial statements are accurate and if they believe the other party's financial statement is also accurate and then the Judge asks a series of questions designed to preclude anyone in the future attempting to set the agreement aside due to buyer's remorse, i.e. do you understand the agreement?  Did anyone coerce you into signing?  Do you think it's fair and reasonable? ..etc. Then the Judge explains how long it will be 'til the divorce is final (depending on the type of filing, 90 days or 120 days).  She then wishes everyone well and the divorce is over.

Having stood next to countless clients at this moment I know that it feels overwhelming and somehow anticlimactic.  There is no real recognition that this is a truly life altering event.  Be prepared, even if you are happy to have the process itself end, to be a bit shaken by the actual hearing.

Best,

Nancy

Tags: , , , , ,

Step 4: Discovery; which is just that

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Nancy Van Tine

Hi there,

Discovery is the point in the process where the attorneys, using various legal tools, are able to quantify just what is going on financially, as well as with other concerns, such as custody or parenting issues.

The first financial discovery tools are the Rule 410 production and the financial statement, both of which are described in a prior post. Once those have been exchanged, the attorneys usually move on to Requests for Production of Documents (RPD) which are expansions on the Rule 410 production. If yours is a case where there are business valuation issues or a need for a forensic accountant (more on those in later posts) then those experts will chime in here with a request for the documents they will need.

At the same time as the RPD is sent out, the attorneys often will exchange Interrogatories, which are a limited series of questions to be answered under oath. Generally the lawyers also ask what are called Expert Interrogatories, where we request information from the experts and their reports so that both sides know what all of the valuations are. These experts can range from real estate appraisers, business valuators and forensic accountants, all the way to doctors and psychologists etc. if there is a custody issue or a medical issue involved.

Once the documents have been exchanged and the Interrogatories answered, (the rules provide time frames for these - which generally are expanded) the next steps are depositions, which are sessions in which you and your spouse, separately, are brought into the opposing attorney’s office to answer questions under oath. In addition to each spouse, depositions of other folks occur as well. Depositions are so complex I will do a separate post on them later.

The rules also allow for requests for medical examinations, examinations of real estate and art antiques, etc. as well as a nifty document known as Requests for Admissions. This permits one side to really pin down the other by requiring them to admit to or deny facts. If they deny a fact that you later prove, they have to pay the cost of the proving. This is an effective procedure that is used a lot in civil practice but not frequently enough in divorce cases.

Discovery can be lengthy and extremely expensive but also is a very necessary tool in many cases.

Take care,
Nancy

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,