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  • Form 14C - When Should We Contact Opposing Lawyer?

    In Form 14C - Confirmation of Attendance, it indicates that we must confirm the following items with the opposing lawyer:
    - date/time of conference
    - what issues the matter is going ahead on
    - what pages of the continuing record the judge should read
    - the total time estimate for each party
    - who the case management judge is

    How soon before the conference should we contact the opposing lawyer in regards to this information? And how do we approach the issue?

    Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

  • #2
    In my case, I had documents to serve and file on the opposing party (lawyer) and did as such within the timeframe prior to our settlement conference on Feb 3rd. I have not yet heard from them in any way, and if I have not heard anything by Thursday evening, I will be faxing form 14C to the court stating that I will be going ahead on all matters.
    I already know the date & time, so you would place that in the form as you are confirming that date & time, I placed all the issues in mine because nothing is settled with a final order, I do not know what pages the judge should be reading at this point, but I will call the court house tomorrow to find out where in the record the settlement conference brief was placed, I estimated 30 mins each (who knows really, I don't see them settling on a thing) and I have listed the judge who has heard the initial portions of the case which provided my interim orders.

    Have you served the opposing party with any documents? If it were me, I would type up a nice letter referring to the documents that were filed and are the issues at hand requesting that they provide a response etc etc.

    Remember, 14C needs to be faxed 2 days before, so set yourself a reminder!

    Comment


    • #3
      File a Case Conference Confirmation – Form 14C
      No later than 2:00 p.m. two days before the case conference, each party must file a Confirmation – Form 14C, confirming that he or she will attend the conference. You can do this either by taking the form to the court office or by faxing it to the court. It is a good idea to know the court’s fax number. If you have not heard anything from the other party you need to specify that on paragraph #2 of that form, just simply state you have served the other party on what ever date it was and that no reply to attend was given.

      Comment


      • #4
        Sorry I think I jump the gun so to speak,

        If you are asking for the case conference, you must fill out a Conference Notice – Form 17. This will let the respondent know that you have scheduled the case conference on a particular date and that he or she is expected to attend on that date. That must be served and filed to the other party 7 days before the case conference. Your Conference Notice – Form 17; Your Case Conference Brief – Form 17A;An up-to-date Financial Statement (Support Claims) – Form 13 or Financial Statement (Property and Support Claims) – Form 13.1 or an Affidavit – Form 14A (if applicable); and The updated Table of Contents.

        The other party has 4 days before the conference to file and serve documents. There are many times that the other party will not file or served during this time but rather they wait until the date of the conference and serve you in court and give these documents to the judge then this usually is so they can stall the proceedings. In our case this happened but you accepted the documents as we knew it would not have any bearing on the case and we proceeded anyways.

        Just another note if you are self represented the judges do not like the documents all over the place, they have to be in proper form. Meaning your Continuing Record should be in order and made up correctly. The staff in the court office are very helpful in assisting you with that. You should ask the clerk for a copy of the Cumulative table of contents in the continuing record. Here is a link on how to make a continuing record and the formal requirements
        Family Law Rules - Continuing Record — Ontario Court Services

        Hope this helps you out

        Comment


        • #5
          Thanks Dovan.

          We will be serving the opposing lawyer and filing our Case Conference Brief (Financial Statement included) one week prior to the case conference, as indicated on our endorsement from the initial court date. So, if I understand correctly, serving the opposing lawyer with a copy of our Case Conference Brief one week prior to the case conference is sufficient "contact" in regards to Form 14C? (The opposing lawyer has to serve us with his Brief the day after he is served with ours, as per the court endorsement.)

          The courthouse did not ask us to file Form 17 - Conference Notice, nor an updated Table of Contents. (They gave us a package of things to file, and it only included Forms 17A, 14C and 13.) Either way, it's the court clerk that always updates the Table of Contents of the Continuing Record with each document filed. So would we still need to file Form 17 - Conference Notice if it wasn't specified in the package we received from the court clerk?

          Thank you in advance for your help!

          Comment


          • #6
            Yes the moving party the one who asked for the conference is to serve and file the form 17, if that is you. This way the other party can not state that they were not advised of the conference. Best think you can do is serve and file all documents together, and then only submit to the court house form 14C Confirmation of attendance no later than the time alloted. It is a good thing to have an update table of contents for your own use when doing up documents

            Comment


            • #7
              Sorry I am not have been a detailed regarding the continuing record, each party has their own continuing record which should be in line(the same) a the one held at the court office. These steps for preparation are very important as your case moves forward and further documents are filed at court. The cover for the continuing Record is red and for all endorsements the cover is yellow, your table of contents go in the front of your endorsements loose so that it can be removed and updated easily, don't ask why it is in with the endoresments but that is how they file it in the court office.

              Comment


              • #8
                Well, I can honestly say that we don't have a copy of the continuing record. The last time we went to court, we had a lawyer, and he dealt with everything. This time we're self-representing, and so it's quite different.

                But, from the information I've received here, and from the courthouse, I think we will proceed as follows:

                1. Serve the opposing lawyer and file with the courthouse Form 17 (Conference Notice), Form 17A (Conference Brief), and Form 13 (Financial Statement) on the date indicated on our endorsement sheet by the court clerk (one week prior to the case conference).

                2. Fax Form 14C (Confirmation of Attendance) to the courthouse 3 days prior to the case conference, indicating that we had "contacted" the opposing lawyer by serving him with our Case Conference Brief, Notice of Conference, and Financial Statement if we get the opposing lawyer's conference brief by the date indicated on the endorsement sheet. And if we don't, we'll send a letter to the lawyer indicating that we had not received his conference brief on the date it was due, and indicate on Form 14C that we tried to contact the lawyer by providing him with our case conference brief but have not received any response nor been served his conference brief.

                Hopefully that is the proper way to do it. (If I'm mistaken, please let me know!)

                Thanks!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by #1StepMom View Post
                  Well, I can honestly say that we don't have a copy of the continuing record. The last time we went to court, we had a lawyer, and he dealt with everything. This time we're self-representing, and so it's quite different.

                  But, from the information I've received here, and from the courthouse, I think we will proceed as follows:

                  1. Serve the opposing lawyer and file with the courthouse Form 17 (Conference Notice), Form 17A (Conference Brief), and Form 13 (Financial Statement) on the date indicated on our endorsement sheet by the court clerk (one week prior to the case conference).

                  2. Fax Form 14C (Confirmation of Attendance) to the courthouse 3 days prior to the case conference, indicating that we had "contacted" the opposing lawyer by serving him with our Case Conference Brief, Notice of Conference, and Financial Statement if we get the opposing lawyer's conference brief by the date indicated on the endorsement sheet. And if we don't, we'll send a letter to the lawyer indicating that we had not received his conference brief on the date it was due, and indicate on Form 14C that we tried to contact the lawyer by providing him with our case conference brief but have not received any response nor been served his conference brief.

                  Hopefully that is the proper way to do it. (If I'm mistaken, please let me know!)

                  Thanks!
                  You can ask your previous lawyer for your file as it is your file, the only reason he/she may not give it to you is if final legal bill is not paid.

                  Part one is correct with the acception of the updated continuing record which I sent you a link on how to do that previously.

                  Part 2 you can fax that in form 14C confirmation of attendance 3 days before just not later than 2pm 2 days before. You do not have to put on this form that you have not receive any documents from the other party just that you have not be able to confirm their attendance. There is no need to contact the opposing lawyer about what is needed to be filed believe me they are well aware of their responsiblity and rest assured if you are self represented and they have legal counsel...you have all documents needed .... done served and filed and they do not the Judge will not look to kindly on the lawyer who has not done his/her job to form.

                  The continuing record is important for an number of reasons for example on Form 14C paragraph #5 it states "the judge should read pages/tab" that is your direction to the Judge so that they can prepare for your case, this usually points the judge to an affidavit you have fiiled with all the exhibits attached so that they can familiarize themselves with the case in order to make formed and factual decison on your case.

                  Hope the helps

                  Comment

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