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Brampton33 · #1 10-06-2021, 10:47 AM

Traditionally, case conferences and settlement conferences done in person would be limited to the parties/lawyers involved only in the courtroom. So you cannot bring your friends and family. If it were permitted, my ex would have her parents attend all in-person events with her, which my lawyer would object to.

How does it work for virtual conferences? What is stopping the other side from having someone sit in earshot taking notes and doing work to assist from behind the scenes. I say this because it is my ex's parents that run her show in terms of all the legal stuff that is involved in our separation.

arbortrail22 · #2 10-06-2021, 10:56 AM

The Judge will ask you to confirm no one else is in the room.

Brampton33 · #3 10-06-2021, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arbortrail22

The Judge will ask you to confirm no one else is in the room.

My ex will say "no" and I can guarantee you that won't be the truth. My ex isn't really an angel in terms of honesty in our court proceedings.

rockscan · #4 10-06-2021, 12:53 PM

What does it matter. If her parents control the show being there makes no difference. They will simply keep it going regardless if they attend or not.

You could request that she move the screen/camera around to show the whole room but even then they could move as well.

This is something you can�t control so unless you request in person you have no other recourse.

Not a hill to die on.

Tayken · #5 10-13-2021, 12:12 PM

Conferences are a waste of time really. You can't use the settlement discussions from a conference in a motion or trial. So who cares who is there. As a tactic to disrupt the other party who is getting support having them removed works but, on video calls... it really changes the game. Most people are probably recording the session anyways.

The easiest cases for most good lawyers are when the other party isn't aware or informed of the case and is letting their parents run it. They are easy fodder on the stand and on cross examination. They fall apart easily when the house of cards they didn't build gets blown over.

ifonlyihadknown · #6 10-14-2021, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tayken

Conferences are a waste of time really.

This is my biggest take away from my experiences in Family Court. What a colossal waste of time and resources case conferences were.

Brampton33 · #7 10-14-2021, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ifonlyihadknown

This is my biggest take away from my experiences in Family Court. What a colossal waste of time and resources case conferences were.

And what a collosal waste of money! My ex would file extremely lengthy briefs. My lawyer said she had to do her diligence as a lawyer and read the whole thing. And then I had to respond to her brief. HUGE waste of money. Then you sit in the courtroom for hours with your lawyer to finally get called up and get passed through like cattle. The settlement briefs that you spent thousands on get handed to you for shredding.

Judge: "I have read your briefs and I think you 2 can work things out. See you in 6 months for the next settlement conference".

That's it? I used to have the date circled on my calendar thinking it was a date that would help lead to the end of the tunnel. Boy was I wrong! I would walk out of those settlement conferences saying "what the heck was that?? It resolved nothing and we are nowhere closer to finalizing this"

If I could do it again, I would do it as follows:

1 case conference (mandatory) self-repped
1 settlement conference (mandatory) self-repped
Motion to set things in place on temporary basis leading up to trial- with lawyer
Set trial for as soon as possible. Negotiate (self-repped) and likely settle on the day of trial (with lawyer)

rockscan · #8 10-14-2021, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brampton33

And what a collosal waste of money! My ex would file extremely lengthy briefs. My lawyer said she had to do her diligence as a lawyer and read the whole thing. And then I had to respond to her brief. HUGE waste of money. Then you sit in the courtroom for hours with your lawyer to finally get called up and get passed through like cattle. The settlement briefs that you spent thousands on get handed to you for shredding.

Judge: "I have read your briefs and I think you 2 can work things out. See you in 6 months for the next settlement conference".

That's it? I used to have the date circled on my calendar thinking it was a date that would help lead to the end of the tunnel. Boy was I wrong! I would walk out of those settlement conferences saying "what the heck was that?? It resolved nothing and we are nowhere closer to finalizing this"

If I could do it again, I would do it as follows:

1 case conference (mandatory) self-repped
1 settlement conference (mandatory) self-repped
Motion to set things in place on temporary basis leading up to trial- with lawyer
Set trial for as soon as possible. Negotiate (self-repped) and likely settle on the day of trial (with lawyer)

When my husband�s lawyer found out his ex was self repped he rubbed his head and sighed. Said it was going to be difficult to reach an agreement and it was. Even with a judge and DRO telling the ex she was wrong they still had to do the conferences. Thankfully her lawyer she was using on a limited scope was able to talk some sense into her before the SC and they reached an agreement.

I would be interested to see some data on number of cases resolved before a second conference and those that went all the way.

ifonlyihadknown · #9 10-14-2021, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brampton33

Judge: "I have read your briefs and I think you 2 can work things out. See you in 6 months for the next settlement conference".

Ooooohhh! Aren't you special. The judge actually read your briefs. Mine didn't even open them until the case conf started and then just did a quick scan.

As soon as I heard that nothing was binding at case/settlement conference, I self-repped for them.

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