I know this is a very open ended question, so let me clarify a bit what I am talking about. I had a client call me who said he contacted an attorney because he needed to terminate spousal support.
His child had turned 18 and per the terms of the divorce judgment, he no longer had to pay child support. In many cases, as with his, before the employer would stop taking the spousal support payments out of his check, they wanted an order from the court that said so.
Because an order was made when child support was ordered, you will need an order to terminate child support as well.
In order to do this you need to file a motion with the court. This would be a Request For Order and you will probably want to go in Ex-Parte so you can get the order signed faster.
If you want more information about how to terminate child support, please give us a call. But for purposes of this article I want to discuss something intersting this client was told by an attorney.
This attorney essetially told him that he would have a better chance getting the child custody order signed if he had an attorney present. The reason he gave was that he (the attorney) would show up in court and testify that they gave proper Ex-Parte notice. That is that they called the other party and let them know they would be going to court to request the termination of child support.
I thought that was an intersting sales pitch. A Request For Order is simply a form you fill out and file with the court to ask for a hearing. Giving Ex-Parte notice is simply a procedural process. It requires you call the otherp party, generally 24 hours in advance, and let them know you are going to court. This gives them a chance to appear.
What the attorney was trying to say is that without an attorney present, the judge may not hear the case because there would be nobody to testify that the Ex-Parte notice was given and there would be a chance the court would not hear the motion.
When you are representing yourself, In Pro Per, you do not have to hire an attorney simpy to give Ex-Parte notice and show up in court. This attoreny was going to charge him $1,500 to fill out a single form and show up to court.
It is not necessary to hire an attorney for these types of divorce motions. For an attorney to use the sales pitch that he will testify that Ex-Parte notice was properly given is hardly a reason to use an attorney for thi
