California Divorce Ex-Parte Must Be True Emergencies

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

The way Divorce Ex-Parte hearings are being decided are changing. I am seeing a trend where Judges are making sure that the divorce Ex-Parte hearings are true emergencies.

I have sent several clients down to court on Divorce Ex-Parte hearings lately and I have noticed a trend. The judges are being more critical of the Ex-Parte hearings and if they are not true emergencies, they are denying the Ex Parte hearing.

 

What is troubling about this is that the bar for being a true emergency is getting higher and higher. Before, financial difficulties were considered emergencies. The last client i sent in Ex Parte was told by an attorney that they had a good Ex-Parte divorce issue in that they were about to be evicted because the spouse moved out of the rental home and stopped paying the rent while the wife was at home with the 2 kids and coming up on Christmas is facing eviction. Despicable!

In any case, we sent her down on emergency Ex Parte motion to get her rent caught up and the judge denied it flat out.  Even the attorney that referred this client to us was shocked that they did not consider the matter since she was about to be evicted.

I make a joke that unless there is “blood on the floor” which my mom would say while telling a story and she realized nobody was listening, the ex parte hearings are not being heard.

Additionally, before the judge would deny the ex parte hearing, but then set the matter on the regular calendar, now they are denying the ex parte hearing and telling the party who filed to file their case on the normal calendar.

The issue here is that if the judge continued the ex parte hearing and set a new date, the court fees the person paid would be considered paid. By the court denying the ex parte hearing and not continuing the hearing or setting is on the calendar forces the party filing the ex parte to pay the filing fees twice.

This is not fair.

Let me explain… So you have an emergency you feel warrants an ex parte motion. You file the motion Ex parte and it is denied. You paid your fees for that hearing, but because the judge felt it did not warrant an emergency, you have to re-file completely and pay the fees again which can be as much as $115 each time.

Sometimes, just not fair…

We handle Request For Orders both on the regular calendar and Ex-Parte. Please call for a free phone consultation to discuss your situation.

045: How To File An Ex-Parte California Divorce Motion

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

In this episode, we talk about the California divorce process and specifically how and when to file an Ex-Parte motion and what an Ex-Parte motion is and when you can use it during or after your divorce in California.

What I want to talk to you about is situation where we helped a client just yesterday and in to today get through a particular process known as what’s called a filing an Ex-Parte Notice.

And if you’ve been through a Divorce in the past you may or you may not know the process of doing this. If you haven’t I want to explain to you what it’s for and what you may need it for.

Make sure to listen to the latest podcast.

Do You Have Better Chance At Divorce Hearing With Attorney Present | Santa Clarita Divorce

Posted by Tim Blankenship on

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