Court Process during a Motion

[SomeGuy]

Hello again you very helpful people ...

My first motion as a self-rep is 2 weeks away from the first court date and I'm getting nervous about messing up on some technicality. She's hired an expensive lawyer.

Motion is pretty straightforward... kids are both away at University this year and I want to stop table payments and shift to Section 7. As expected, she has responded with a complete rejection of every molecule of my motion, and countered with what I believe are very "unreasonable" demands.

In her financial statement (Form 13) and her Motion Response (Form 15B) there are several significant factual errors. I can prove the errors/omissions by showing email chains, historical tax data, and other documentation.

1) Question is, do I need to disclose (and file with the court) all these extra bits before the court appearance? or can I just keep them in a binder and bring them up during the motion itself?

2) Once we have a Case Conference, do we keep the same judge through the trial?

Thanks for any info folks

[nogoingback]

1) Question is, do I need to disclose (and file with the court) all these extra bits before the court appearance? or can I just keep them in a binder and bring them up during the motion itself?

If it is just a Case conference, you don't need to file anything further- keeping in mind that nothing substantial will be decided at a CC. None of your case conference material is carried over to the next step, and you will need to fill in
different, though similar, documents for the subsequent settlement conference. If you feel that there is a strong possibility of reaching a settlement before proceeding to a settlement conference, then you could file a response to her's with the accompanying bits and pieces you mention.

2) Once we have a Case Conference, do we keep the same judge through the trial?

No. New judge for each step along the way. About the only thing the new judge will see from a previous conference is a judge's or DRO's endorsement

[SomeGuy]

Thanks nogoingback...

Just to clarify, is there also a "Settlement Conference" step for a Motion to Change?

I thought it was first appearance (i.e. make sure papers are in order), then Case Conference (probably 2 months later), then "trial" (another 2 months).

Am I missing a step? I'm getting mixed messages from my searches....

[OrleansLawyer]

Just to clarify, is there also a "Settlement Conference" step for a Motion to Change?

Generally, yes. Occasionally the case conference and settlement conference are held together.

1) Question is, do I need to disclose (and file with the court) all these extra bits before the court appearance? or can I just keep them in a binder and bring them up during the motion itself?

Is the motion the final hearing of your motion to change? If so, is it being heard as a trial or as a motion?

If it is going ahead as a motion (read: no oral evidence), then all evidence you are relying on needs to be disclosed in the affidavits beforehand. If you show up with papers in hand your ex may argue they weren't properly disclosed and therefore cannot be part of the motion.

Generally, disclosure should happen long before hearing dates.

2) Once we have a Case Conference, do we keep the same judge through the trial?

It is possible to have a case conference judge as the trial judge but there is no guarantee. The case conference judge is as likely to be your judge as any other judge who didn't hear the settlement conference.