What Happens if I Don't Show Up for Family Court Phoneix

Webinar Transcript Below

This is Billie Tarascio with Access Legal (now iDoOver.life) & Modern Police force. I am and then excited to exist here with you today for an upcoming webinar and, before we begin, I but wanna tell you a bit virtually me and what I do and what Mod Law does and what Access Legal does.
I am a family unit law attorney here in Arizona.
I've been practicing family constabulary for the last 10 years. I absolutely dear it and I am the possessor of the family constabulary firm Modern Police. Inside my work that I practise at Modern Constabulary information technology'due south become very clear that the vast majority of people are representing themselves and there are not enough resources out at that place for people who are representing themselves. In fact, information technology'southward between 80 and 90% of you who are representing yourselves in family unit court.
Admission Legal  (now iDoOver.life) is a visitor that was created out of Modern Police force to bring constabulary firm resources bachelor to you, the public, who are representing yourself. And one of the things that we are going to do is be offering these webinars. Today'south webinar for example is on how to represent yourself in family court. And, I will warn you, it is an action-packed hour of a tone of information; it is definitely a loftier-level view of everything that you lot can await to have happened in your family police case. Equally we movement forward in the futurity we will have other webinars that are more specific, will drill down into the specifics of the different areas and really answer your questions. Feel gratuitous to ask questions as we go and, if you have other webinars that you want to hear or questions that were not answered, experience free to reach out to me, either through Modern Law or through Access Legal.
STEP i: FIGURE OUT YOUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Today nosotros're going to be mostly focused on the process, which is long and not really easy. But nosotros'll also talk nigh the substantive law with regards to custody and divorce, because information technology does look like that—based on the poll—that's something that affects anybody. Let'due south start at the beginning. The beginning is before y'all file or before you lot're served. If you know that you are going to be facing a family unit police force upshot—because y'all're either facing a divorce or you lot've had a kid out of wedlock—before you go to the court house, there'southward some things that you should practise. We should determine what your objectives are; what is most of import to y'all. This means really thinking nigh what your life is going to look like in 3 years. How do you see a custody arrangement working out? How do you meet a parenting plan working for you and your children? And—anybody tin can still hear me, right? There are some people who are saying they can't. Oh yes, people are maxim they tin can. Ok, fabulous! So, nosotros're going to look at what are the main issues. Do you desire to stay in your ain firm? Do you lot want to go along existence a generally stay-calm parent? Are you looking for financial security? What are your most important objectives and your biggest fears?
STEP 2: FIGURE OUT YOUR RESOURCES AND BUDGET
The next thing that I'grand gonna ask y'all to do—subsequently y'all really think well-nigh what your life looks similar here in the adjacent 3 years, two years, i yr—is to gather your resources. The procedure of going through a family unit police force case is long and hard. It's a marathon, it'due south not a dart. I'm gonna ask you to really gather your resources—both emotional and financial—so that you tin brand the best determinations about how to achieve your objectives and set the right expectation.
How do you anticipate the opposing party will respond?
Is it possible for the two of you lot to work together to come up with some solutions that piece of work for you? Because the lesser line is, as a family unit, if you're not in a family unit court arrangement, you lot decide how your family is going to operate.

There is no statute, there is no government, in that location is no ane involved telling you how you are going to run your family.

Yous can continue to have that simply if you and the opposing party can concur on how your family will keep to operate after your break-upward or your divorce. If that's not the case—if you're non able to come up to an agreement—and so the statutes and rules apply and they volition decide how your family unit is going to run. It'southward ordinarily non the all-time position for people to be in, so if at that place is any way for you and your opposing party to work it out, usually that's a improve outcome for yous and your children; not always, not always. Past considering these problems in advance y'all can ameliorate come up with and execute a strategy.
You don't wanna go into a family courtroom example without a strategy; without knowing what it is that you're hoping to achieve. Otherwise you can't actually measure success and we have so many unlike tools bachelor to us, both as self-representing litigants and as attorneys, to figure out how we're going to motion forward that in advance; earlier we file anything, we want to come up with and execute a strategy.
1 of the first decisions you lot need to brand is whether or non hire an attorney. You may or may non know this, but between 80 and 90% of people in family unit courtroom represent themselves. Y'all are the majority. You lot are the vast majority; in fact it's non fifty-fifty close. So with that beingness said, there are too few resources that are really geared towards meeting your needs, empowering you and making sure that these life-changing events are handled in the best possible way.
Most people are happier if they rent an attorney, but the fact of the matter is that that'due south not true for everyone and in that location are diverse reasons why people choose not to hire an chaser.
Coin is the primary reason, but likewise people may think that they tin can handle it on their own or may think that it'due south not a good employ of their funds and I think it's really of import for you to do that analysis to make up one's mind if you have the funds, is it a good utilise of your funds and is it a expert utilise of your funds to hire that chaser right now or is information technology a better use of your funds to map out a strategy and figure out when and if y'all need that attorney most and wait to hire the attorney until you need them? Usually and sometimes that's a better idea for people and that's what limited-telescopic services are.
Under a full-scope model y'all go in, y'all retain the attorney; the chaser is your attorney of record, they take care of everything for you. The dainty thing with that is that you become the peace of mind of knowing that an attorney's gonna handle everything for yous.
The downside is that the average divorce in this country costs each side $20,000 and if yous're faced with the conclusion of ''Do I spend my child's college fund on an attorney or am I a smart capable person who tin can do a lot of this on my own?''—and then mayhap that'southward the best bet for you. This is an assay that you demand to brand, merely I really strongly propose that yous really consider what the plan is. Don't become into this blindly; don't stumble along your path; really figure out what you lot are going to practice.
There are other resource available to you also attorneys that you lot tin utilize either full-scope or limited-scope. You can use legal dr. preparers. IDoOver.life is a visitor that is a legal medico prep company and there are many other legal physician preparers out there.
People who are legal document preparers accept special certification from the Supreme Court. They are not attorneys; they take non gone to Law School, but they practise know how to respond questions and aid navigate y'all through the system, which is essential, which can be so helpful when you're dealing with this very long and complicated process.
You lot also take lay legal advocates at diverse non-profits, your friends, a forum. We've created a forum on Facebook that'southward for people who are representing themselves or people who are going through a family court matter. It doesn't even have to exist about representing yourself. It tin be simply virtually gathering with other individuals who are going through y'all're going through, who can assist give you lot support and say ''Hey, I went in front end of the judge with this set of facts, and this guess, this twenty-four hours and here is what happened.'' Having this sort of information actually makes it so much easier for you to navigate this process.
STEP 3: THE INITIAL LEGAL FILINGS
With that being said, now we're going to walk through what to expect when you get into the actual instance and we will use legal controlling and child custody as our case, as we walk through the process of what to expect when y'all're in a family court case. The first step is your initial filings and your initial filings include the petition, the response and potentially a motion for temporary orders. When you file a petition or if you have been served with a petition, you're going to make a argument on how you desire everything; what you would like to see happen. Y'all're going to let the guess know what the potential issues are and how you would like the estimate to resolve those issues.
With custody legal decision-making bug it's a little bit dissimilar from when you lot're going through a whole divorce, but non really all that dissimilar. I would recommend when you're filing these initial documents—the petition, the response—that you get out yourself room for changing your position. Consider keeping these documents a bit vague, asking for something like an equitable distribution of customs holding or saying things like ''there may be carve up property'' or if yous commit in your petition that a certain slice of property is separate holding and then yous later detect out through discovery it's non separate belongings, you have kind of boxed yourself in. Unless y'all think that you are going to get through a default—and nosotros'll talk about default—consider keeping the statements that you brand in the petition and in the response open and so that, equally you go more than information, you can change and refine and really hone down and specify your position.
In the ix to12- calendar month procedure that yous get through, typically, to become a divorce or go through a instance, you may change your listen on whether or not y'all desire to alive in the house or sell the house. You don't wanna lock yourself downwards to a position now because the risk is that an chaser could come in and say ''Your Laurels, I would like attorney'due south fees be awarded to me from the opposing party because they have been all over the place on their positions. They said this in the petition, this in their motion for temporary orders; they said something else in their resolution statements; at present in their pre-trial statements they are request for something they've never asked before and therefore we should laurels attorney's fees''—and I have seen this happen. In lodge to avoid that, consider keeping your options open early on on.
If you are the respondent you've been served with a petition, what that means is that if you're in the state, you lot have 26 days to responds; if you're out of the state, you have 30 days to answer and there's a couple of ways that you lot can typhoon your response. Many attorneys, many people, typhoon a response by admitting or denying the petition in each paragraph. So the response would be ''then and then asks for sole legal decision-making in their position'' and you're going to say ''I disagree with petitioner's position.'' I would recommend that y'all consider drafting your response more similar a counter-petition where you affirmatively state what it is that you want.
The reason is this: you don't want your response to merely makes sense in light of the petition; you want someone to be able to choice upwards your response, read your response and understand your position. Instead of saying ''I disagree with petitioner on the upshot of legal decision-making'' for instance, you instead could say something similar ''Petitioner and I should share joint legal decision-making; nosotros take always been parents to these children; we have always worked together.''—that sort of thing; you lot can add some facts if you lot want to or simply just state your position ''we should have joint legal decision-making.'' Affirmatively country what you want. Don't gear up yourself upwardly so that your response is basically irrelevant without reading the petition likewise.
A movement for temporary orders is the other certificate that I include in basically set 1—the initial court filings—and the motion for temporary orders can be filed by either the petitioner or the respondent along with your initial documents.
The motion for temporary orders will let yous go in front of the approximate—usually between 30 and 60 days later on you filed a motion—to bargain with imminent issues. With that being said, I should take a step back. Recollect how we started with the importance of figuring out your objectives and really taking your time earlier you filed your documents, before you embarked on this decision. T
hat does non apply if you are in a dangerous state of affairs or if your children are in a dangerous situation. If y'all and your children are non condom, and so you don't accept fourth dimension to come up upwardly with a strategy right now today. You don't have time to wait and call back nigh how really y'all want your life to look in three years. Let's get you safe outset and foremost, so we will piece of work on our plan and that besides ties into what we are talking nearly hither at the motility for temporary orders.
An emergency order is separate from a motion for temporary orders. An emergency club tin can be filed—permit'southward say for sole legal controlling if your kid is in a dangerous situation— without an order in identify.
Then that volition non take you lot 30 to 60 days to arrive front of the judge; that will be an firsthand lodge. Yous become earlier the judge—it'due south called ex parte—it means that information technology'south you lot, without the opposing political party, and you are asking the estimate for an emergency order, considering if that emergency order is not going granted, in that location will be irreparable impairment. It's something to consider; information technology's something that it's available to you. Just the motion for temporary orders is non for those situations; it's not for an emergency situation. It'south for situations where you need to figure out, during the pendency of your hearing, what the parenting plans are going to be; or you need temporary kid support and you tin't wait 12 months until the judge takes the final conclusion on child support; or you lot demand temporary spousal maintenance; or you lot need to know who's gonna pay the bills; or mayhap you wanna put the house on the market. T
here are really an unlimited amount of things that you can ask for in your movement for temporary orders, and so consider whether or not that is something that y'all need.Yous tin can find all of these documents for free at the Maricopa County Self-Help Center. You can get them on the iDoOver.life website and they are not the same as what you would make it the county; information technology'due south a questionnaire were you would fill out your questionnaire as y'all go and so y'all have a legal doc preparer you tin consult with and talk with or you tin can talk to a legal doc preparer who can help you practice the paperwork or an chaser. All of these are options.
At that place are filing fees that are required for both petitioners and respondents. If you are unable to pay that filing fee, yous tin ask the courtroom to defer that filing fee. That's something to keep in listen. You lot shouldn't let the inability to pay the filing fee stop you from filing, but you should consider what it is that yous're request for and what it is that yous are writing down and drafting to the court before yous file.
I've seen the court really come downwards on women who filed a petition asking for her $2000 a month spousal maintenance for the rest of their life. Some judges are offended past that, and so if you exit yourself open to ''I need spousal maintenance to meet my reasonable needs'' and you don't define information technology and you don't ask for how long, you give yourself time to really effigy out if what you're asking for is reasonable, who your judges, all these things that are gonna help yous as you move forrard.
STEP iv: DEFAULT
Nosotros talked a little in the beginning near a default. In the upshot that you think your opposing party is non going to respond—either because they are out of the state or they are, yous know, MIA or they agree with everything—you can consider filing for a default. If you exercise that; if you know that you wanna file for a default—and this can be a strategic move that you lot and your spouse or your ex brand—then what you needed to do is draft a very specific petition that also includes your parenting programme that says: here'southward exactly what I want; you serve the other party; you pay your filing fee.
If the other political party agrees, then you can go forward with the default and that opposing party avoids paying a 268-dollar response fee monthly, so it's an admittedly valid strategy to people who agree, because at that place's no way in Arizona for you to go an uncontested divorce. Someone must file a petition; same thing with establishing paternity legal decision-making, which is legal custody. And let's only talk for a minute. We'll pause on default and talk for a minute about these terms.
Legal controlling is legal custody. It's who makes the major decisions for the kid—where they get to schoolhouse; whether or not they become on medication; or go a surgery that might not be an emergency surgery, that sort of affair; their religion and personal care decisions. Most of the time, the courts prefer articulation legal decision-making, which requires both parents to talk and make decisions together.
That's not always the case and there could exist very adept reasons why there should not exist an award of articulation legal conclusion-making. And then do not think that you have toask for joint legal determination-making. I'm seeing correct now a lot of pressure being put on people. They're being told ''Don't even bother request for sole legal controlling.'' And that'due south a mistake.
Yous really need to wait at your facts and apply the police force and so decide what'southward gonna be near appropriate for you. Legal controlling is dissever from parenting fourth dimension and Arizona has done abroad with the term visitation. No ane, no parent is given visitation. Each parent is given parenting time. And we take statutes in place that require very specific rules for the parenting plan that must exist in identify. It's not ok for the 2 of you to come with a parenting plan that is, you know, so and and then volition be granted liberal or reasonable parenting fourth dimension. The courts and the statutes require that you have a specific parenting plan in place that deals with vacations, holidays, transportation and specific days and times for each parent to take parenting fourth dimension.
With that beingness said, at that place is also a preference for maximizing parenting fourth dimension with both parents, when yous have expert parents, when you take safe parents. If that'due south non the case, so y'all practise not demand to feel pressured into entering into an equal parenting time arrangement; if that'due south not what best for your children; that'due south non right in your circumstances. We really do have to look at that case-by-case basis.
With that piddling aside, we'll go back to the default. If you accept served the opposing political party and they have not responded—they have twenty days to respond in Arizona; xxx days to reply if they are out of Arizona—then you tin can file an application and affidavit for default.
They become 10 more than days to respond and you serve them with that awarding and affidavit of default. At that bespeak you tin can request either a hearing—if yous have children—and you would get before the estimate for a default hearing or y'all can submit paperwork—a decree for the guess to sign—if there are no children involved.
Be aware, one more piece of fourth dimension frame to keep in mind is that in that location's a sixty-day waiting flow for divorce, and so you tin't file really your application and notice of default or submit your decree to get it signed earlier that 60 days. That'southward something to keep in mind when we are besides because the 20 days plus the 10 days; we've got a factor in those lx days as well.
A hearing is usually required when there are children involved. Then what that looks like is you telephone call the courtroom; you make an appointment; y'all and a bunch of other people show up on the day of your default hearing; you wait in line; you lot become earlier the gauge. The gauge will compare the petition and the decree, so y'all have to bring a decree with what you desire to have happen.
The decree must match what yous've ask for in the petition, considering the person who was served—the respondent who did non respond—deserves to know what it is that they have waived their rights to by failing to answer. We cannot have a very vague petition that you so go get a default judgement on. That's something to consider. What we might have to practice in that instance is improve your petition, make it more specific, then ask for a default. After these initial filings, yous might practice the default, you might non. Don't go through default and your opposing political party goes ahead and responds; and so the next stage of your divorce—really phase two or phase 3 if we might consider a default phase two then the discovery and [inaudible 23:07] disclosure stage three. This is where nosotros get into disclosure and discovery.
STEP 5: DISCLOSURES AND DISCOVERY
In family courtroom disclosure and discovery is actually not optional; information technology is mandatory. That means if yous're going to employ an exhibit, if y'all're gonna employ a witness, it must exist disclosed and Rule 49 sets out the mandatory minimum disclosures. The dominion is lengthy; it's complicated.
We created a fantastic chart for yous that you can check out. It'southward hosted on the iDoOver website. It shows you exactly if parenting time is an issue, here's what must be disclosed; if there is a protective gild in place for anyone that lives in either household, here is what must be disclosed; if there'south criminal records, here's what must be disclosed; if information technology is belongings, here's what must be disclosed. Information technology'southward an fantabulous nautical chart for y'all to review. This lets you now, not only what your obligations are in disclosure, but what y'all can expect to get from the opposing party. So check that out and allow me know if you have questions on it.
This brings usa to the adjacent topic on disclosures and discovery and the rules of evidence. In family court, the rules of show are relaxed. That means the aforementioned rules that yous accept in ceremonious court—objections to hearsay or actuality of documents—don't apply in family unit court. In family court the general dominion is that whatever show that's relevant will be admitted. That is unless a notice of strict compliance is filed. A notice of strict compliance is not a request to the court; information technology'due south putting the court on notice that the rules of evidence—the civil rules of evidence—will be in issue. I would suggest yous to think long and hard before filing the notice of strict compliance.
Information technology makes information technology more difficult for you to show your example. What that ways is that instead of submitting a police report as prove, you need to really amendment the police force officer who has to come and actually testify because that's the best evidence; the best evidence of what happened is not the report, but the actual witness who saw the event, and so that'southward but something to keep in mind. If the opposing party or the opposing political party's representative and their attorney files a notice of strict compliance, we'll need to do a crash form for you on the rules of testify and that might be a different webinar that we put onor a series of blogs. If that'south something that you need to know, just let me know; put it in your questions and then we'll know what we need to comprehend.
I love that these questions are coming in; they're fantastic, but I'm going to keep going on the bodily presentation and then endeavour to get to as many of these as we can when we're washed. Please keep them coming and I promise we volition become through all of these at the finish, okay? Discovery tools: if at that place is—yous looked at Rule 49; you need XYZ; let's say you need access to their bank records and they're not handing them over or y'all know they're hiding avails or you call up at that place might be something actually terrible—like child pornography or something similar that—in that location are discovery tools that you can use in addition to the Rule 49 disclosures. The discovery tools are interrogatories which are questions that are asked and served upon the opposing political party. They must answer them within 40 days. There is a set of uniform family law interrogatories that are fantastic. I mean, they are fantastic! They ask for things like, you know, proper name every account you take, proper name all the people who live in your house and any criminal tape they take. It'southward extensive; it's great! You lot can currently get it on the iDoOver.life website.
You can also serve not-compatible interrogatories. Not-compatible interrogatories are questions that you make upward. For instance nosotros thought the opposing party in one of my cases was hiding rental income, then nosotros created a non-uniform interrogatory that said ''identify each and every house you own, who lives in the house, how much the mortgage is and what is paid in rent.'' That'south non a uniform interrogatory, information technology's a not-uniform interrogatory and yous're express in the number of those that you can utilise, just they're very powerful discovery tools.
The next discovery tool yous take available to you is the request for the production of documents or things or items. You can request someone's computer. You can request that that reckoner be imaged by a forensic analyst who then goes through and searches for things, you know, in the child pornography example that's a reason we would want to get their actual calculator or image their figurer or their tablet. We tin can besides practice that with someone's phones. Nosotros can look for bank accounts. Y'all can request specific items, lots of specific items, using this request for product of documents. And again what we'd wanna exercise is think dorsum for a strategy, think back to what we must testify and then request what we need to using these discovery tools.
A request for admissions is a separate document that goes out and says ''Did y'all practise XYZ?'' They accept to lock down yes or no. And why do you practice these interrogatory and these requests for admissions? Because you lock downward their answers and you can use this as evidence and you lot can use it to impeach them. And impeachment means you're proving them a liar; that's what information technology means. We wanna start with these tools and using these tools and gathering our testify soon. At that place is a reason that I put this in the process right afterwards the filing of the original and initial documents. You do not want to await. The reason is that the aforementioned information is used not only for trial prep, but for negotiation and for settlement. It's information that you're entitled to. A subpoena is a niggling different because information technology's similar a request for production of documents or a request for a witness that goes directly to the third-political party: a bank, a witness, a schoolhouse, any third party who has data that you demand. Bear with me for one second while I accept some allergy medicine. Thanks! I don't know about you, but the orange blossoms accept been killing me.
Stride 6: PREHEARING CONFERENCES
In the family court there are a series of prehearing conferences that are designed to help facilitate settlement, narrow the issues and effigy out what the case strategy is going to look similar. A resolution management conference is an RMC. It's typically scheduled when there's attorney, sometimes if at that place's no chaser. A resolution management briefing is about half an hour. You have to file a resolution statement prior to this. Yous can get that grade on from united states at IDoOver.life  or on the Maricopa County Superior Court website. You wanna be pretty specific in your resolution statement near exactly how yous'd similar the case to be resolved. You tin't do a good RMC argument without the information that you gathered during discovery. How do you know how you wanna specifically split the assets if you don't know exactly where they are or exactly who owns them or exactly what the terms of the interest charge per unit are? That's why discovery'due south and so important. The resolution management conference is a half an hour. It is in front of the judge that is assigned to your instance at the court house.
Ane quick thought on this: you have the ability to change your judge once as a matter of right before you go in forepart of the estimate. If you are assigned a approximate that y'all do not want for your case, you need to file a notice of exchange of guess earlier the RMC. At the RMC you lot tell the gauge how you want things to motion frontward. Not only do y'all tell them how you want the substantive issues to exist resolved—for instance, I want Joey to go to X school or whatever kiddo issues y'all have going on or money issues—just also do you want sure experts appointed; do y'all wanna go to a parenting conference; do you desire to go to an ADR; do you want a comprehensive family unit analysis; do you want a drug testing for the other party? What sort of things do you need the judge to club, this is the time to enquire.
An early resolution conference is different. Information technology is set with conciliation services.You lot go in front end of the third-party mediator. It'southward you and the other political party; commonly this is prepare when there's no attorneys, but sometimes attorneys go to go. One fourth dimension I got to go and I was able to really assistance my client facilitate a fantastic settlement. It's ready for 3 hours. It's unlike from an RMC. You lot're non in forepart of the judge and you don't have to file a RMC statement in advance, but you're gonna desire to bring your show, because that's gonna assist y'all negotiate.
An ADR stands for culling dispute resolution. This is usually a judicial settlement briefing. This is a 3-60 minutes conference that is assigned to, not your judge, simply a judge pro tem. They are usually an attorney or someone who has a lot of experience in family law. Their job is to help facilitate the settlement. Before you become to the ADR, y'all submit a confidential memorandum to that judge pro tem, outlining all of your positions. This is like your pre-trial argument.Yous are going to want to accept all of the information that you need going into information technology, and then again this is why discovery is then of import. The other prehearing briefing that yous might get is a return hearing or as a status conference. That is a little more loosely defined; sometimes they have bear witness, sometimes they don't. It'southward merely an opportunity for you to talk to your judge—sometimes it'southward telephonic, sometimes it'southward in person—kind of come upwards with an idea of what's gonna happen. Possibly yous're gonna set a case for trial, maybe you're gonna get over the remaining outstanding issues etc. etc.
Prehearing conferences are designed for a lot of different purposes and nosotros just talked about those, but the other thing to consider here throughout all of this is negotiations. You should make a good-faith effort to look like yous are negotiating. It'due south important. If yous don't, you are exposed to paying the other political party's attorney's fees. Unless you're in a position where you are afraid of the opposing political party, you should effort to engage in negotiations as much as possible. With that being said, there is many ways with to practise it. If you are afraid of the opposing party, you can engage in negotiations in writing or via attorneys. You lot don't have to do it yourself; it doesn't have to be in person. And when we do mediations or ADR, culling dispute resolutions or judicial settlement conferences, we can absolutely have the parties be in different rooms where they never run across each other. Some other option is that someone—1 party—shows up an hour before than the other party then that you're never ever seeing each other. It is absolutely an pick.
STEP 7: TRIAL PREPARATION
Let's talk nigh trial prep. Now, all of this is kind of trial prep, but information technology's also negotiation prep and instance prep and helping y'all to figure out what it is that yous want. When y'all are engaged in trial prep, here'due south what you're looking at: you demand to place all of the remaining issues that have not been settled—property divisions, spousal maintenance, parenting time, child back up. Once you lot've identified the issues, and then yous demand to look at the law to effigy out the elements of each issue—for instance child support. Child support is calculated pursuant to a calculator. The elements of child back up are mum's income, dad's income, childcare expenses, healthcare expenses, any extraordinary expenses. You lot need to drill down into the elements and make sure that you have the information that you need to prove each of those elements. How do you prove mom's income, dad's income, healthcare expenses? This is all information you're going to need in order to gear up for trial and prove your case.You lot'll demand to look at the statutes, which you tin can observe under Title 25 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. That'south all of the family law statutes. If you look at each 1, you know, the 1 on parenting time will requite you all the factors that the judge will consider when determining what the appropriate parenting fourth dimension arrangement is. At this bespeak you are gathering legal information and analysing that legal information and applying your facts to that legal information. Get aid; consult the statutes, lay legal advocates, people who have been doing this earlier, doc preparers, attorneys; do what you need to do to make sure this is your very well-prepared and you can articulate the facts and have the evidence that the judge really cares about.
Pre-trial argument—at that place was a question about a pre-trial statement. The pre-trial statement is the most important document in your entire case. I cannot emphasise plenty how of import this document is. This certificate identifies all of your issues, gives the procedural history and groundwork of the case, cites the law, applies your facts to the constabulary and incorporates exhibits.
Last week I had a hearing with a client. The other side was represented as well. We had submitted to the judge a joint pre-trial statement laying out here's what's happened in the case, here are the outstanding bug, hither is the law, here is how we practical —each of united states of america each—each attorney applied our facts to the law and we gave information technology to the gauge in advance. When we walked in for trial that day, the judge had written up for united states of america his presumptive findings. He had already drafted his ruling.
He called us back in chambers. He said ''Look, I'm open to changing my heed in one case I hear a testimony, but here's what I'm thinking I'm gonna exercise.'' It was incredible! This tells yous how important this certificate is. If you pay an chaser for one piece of your case, I recommend you pay them to do a prehearing statement for y'all; take your exhibits; utilize your exhibits. The reason is y'all're going to use this as an outline for everything. We can talk more about that if yous'd similar.
One question that I had earlier was ''Is there an example?'' Non actually. It's one of the things that Access Legal is working on creating—a document library with actual examples, showing you how different people take synthetic their arguments. It doesn't exist right now for [inaudible 44:ten] litigants and I'm sorry; I recollect information technology's a tragedy.
Merely, at this bespeak, I don't have a peachy mode to show you lot, you know, 10 examples of different crawly pre-trial statements, but we're working on it. Alright, what are you going to utilise for witnesses and exhibits? How do you make up one's mind what you're going to use or who you're going to use?
Y'all await at your pre-trial statement. Your pre-trial argument shows you what fact you must testify. If you must prove dad's income, you lot know that yous demand an exhibit that shows dad's income. If you lot take to bear witness that dad never showed up to pick upwardly little Johnny on time, so you're going to need exhibits that show that dad never picked upward little Johnny on time or witnesses from the childcare center that can say that dad never picked upwardly fiddling Johnny on time. If there are facts really of import to you that cannot be practical to an element, you lot don't get to use them. And so if there is something that is very important to you, for example your ex cheated on y'all and you lot're pissed and you desire the estimate to know; I don't blame you, you know, it makes sense that you lot are upset and you want the guess to know, just we have a no-fault divorce land, so information technology'south really not relevant, unless we can show waste—community waste of assets. If you put in legal statement an assay related to waste, then you get to bring up the fact that your spouse cheated on you and spent all this money. You lot must figure out a manner to become the facts that are of import to y'all to use to an element of a legal issue.
Pace 8: TRIAL PRESENTATION
Let's talk now a little fleck most trial procedure. We have ten minutes left, and so I'1000 going to endeavor to get through the residuum of this very chop-chop and then answer your questions in the last 5 minutes. Trial presentation works similar this: first the petitioner goes, the petitioner volition call his or her showtime witness—usually that's you—you will prove as to what's important. How practise you know what to testify to? You show based on what's in the pre-trial statement, because if you've done a peachy pre-trial statement, your pre-trial statement is exactly what the judge needs to know. That is your testimony. That is the question you're asking dad. That is your outlined new use and trial, because that is what the judge has used as evidence by the fact that the estimate brought up a draft understanding based on our pre-trial argument. Alright, and then the petitioner goes beginning; you're going to offer your testimony. The opposing party has the ability to inquire you cross-examination questions. Answer these questions equally quickly and succinctly and without animosity every bit much as you perhaps can and that'southward where we get into the decorum slice here. You want to kind of be on your best behaviour. Judges desire to feel similar you lot respect them and respect their court room. It's a place that is more than traditional than many of the places that we attend in society and so some people are actually shocked past the level of respect that is expected by the judge and the level of decorum, but it is at that place, it is real; you have to follow it, it will help yous.
The opposing party is going to inquire you cross-examination questions. Y'all accept the ability to redirect or re-analyze anything based on what they asked you. And you get to do that for every single witness. Later yous're washed with you, you phone call your next witness; you ask them questions; the opposing political party asks questions, then you get to ask clarifying questions.You do that until you lot're done presenting your case. Y'all employ the exhibits to eternalize the testimony. The exhibits actually don't and cannot speak for themselves, so each—I'm sorry, the testify—each exhibit must exist authenticated, which means you must say ''I'm looking at father's pay steps from this month to this month, which says bla bla bla bla bla.'' You take to tell the judge what the exhibit says; then you can show the approximate the exhibit. And then you need to offer the showroom—and y'all do that by saying ''I offering to admit exhibit X''—so y'all're going to submit to the court, let's say, thirty exhibits prior to trial. You're gonna give that to the courtroom, to the opposing party. Some judges want a copy, some don't. You can call the courtroom and detect out exactly what judges want a copy of the exhibits and which don't.
In order to accept the exhibits really looked at by the judge, y'all're going to have to offer to admit the exhibit. At that point the other political party has the ability to object by maxim ''I object.'' What are the bases for objection? Irrelevance; wasn't disclosed; not previously disclosed—those are all reasons to object. If the exhibit doesn't say what they're purporting, it says—so for instance, in a case I was working on last week, the other side was trying to put in exhibits that had nothing to do with the instance; that had to do with, you lot know, his married woman's grandparents' money that they earned and it didn't have anything to do with the case and they were trying to argue that information technology had to do with showing that he worked for them, but information technology didn't show that he worked for them, so we objected.
The objection was sustained, which ways yes, I agree with you councillor, it doesn't get it. If the exhibit is non admitted, the judge doesn't await at it and the judge most probable has not looked at your exhibits before you've got into trial. Okay? So you lot're going through your case, you're presenting your witnesses, you're presenting your evidence, you're offering to admit your exhibits, then you're going to rest your example. The opposing party does the aforementioned.
Well-nigh often there is no closing argument or opening argument, although you might be able to submit a closing argument in writing—a closing brief to the court—and that'south something you are probably entitled todo. You can ask the court or y'all can simply do it. What to expect? You finished, they finished. Information technology'due south now time for everybody to go home. You lot desire the court to give you a ruling. They're probably not gonna give y'all a ruling. Nearly likely the gauge is gonna take the affair under advisement and yous're going to receive a written ruling sometime betwixt xxx and threescore days later. During that menses of time, the status quo remains. If there is temporary orders in place, they command. You'll just go on doing what you're doing.
Now, just finally you lot get the ruling and there'south something horribly, terribly wrong. What are your options? Motion to clarify, motion to reconsider, an appeal or Rule 85 motion to set bated. There are good reasons to do this. For instance in a divorce that I was working on most two years ago, we got the decree and the decrease did not divide all of the marital holding, and so it wasn't articulate who owned the business organisation or the houses or, y'all know, the boat and the cars and they hadn't been divided, and then that was a really good reason for us to file post-decree motions regarding the actual prescript—information technology does happen and at that place are other reasons yous wanna do that.
Call 480-649-2905. Schedule a confidential consultation today to discuss a legal solution and options that all-time fit your upkeep and state of affairs.

cumminsgrequod.blogspot.com

Source: https://mymodernlaw.com/how-represent-yourself-arizona-family-court/

Share this post