Reconciliation During A Divorce Action - Part 2 This blog article is a continuation of my thoughts on issues that should be considered prior to a reconciliation during a divorce/legal separation. I briefly mentioned a desire to have any reconciliation take place at the start of the action. This is because the further one gets into the case the less time there will be remaining to do everything that is required to prepare of the possibility of a trial (or a settlement conference). This is very “fact specific” - for a complicated case, especially if children are an issue, then much of the time between the filing date and the date of trial may be needed to do everything that is necessary. One very important date involves the discovery process. In King County Superior Court, for divorce/legal separation cases, any discovery has to completed approximately one month prior to the trial date. Since some types of discovery take up to one month to conclude, you would have to start them at least two months before the trial date. Sometimes there is a desire to do some discovery and then followup discovery (based on what you learned the first time). Most family law attorneys watch the discovery cutoff date very closely and start to get nervous the closer the case gets to it. Should the If parenting plan issues justify the need to have some sort of parenting evaluation, it is important to consider the time that it will take to get the person identified (motion or agreement?), pay the person and the time they will need to do the evaluation and prepare a report (an additional issue here is when the person can actually start the investigation). From start to finish, and depending on the evaluator (and issues), this could be many months. Having a reconciliation that involves any time in the “middle” of the overall case, could create a problem with any needed evaluation. If there are temporary orders in place, they should be addressed during the reconciliation time. This is especially true of issues such as payment of child support or spousal maintenance. With the parties living together, neither of these payments should be made (there is a need for some sort of order addressing what should/should not continue during the reconciliation time). Lastly, the over riding issue is how much time does your attorney need to prepare for trial? This involves the discovery process as well as all the other activities, such as the parenting evaluation that need to be done well ahead of the trial date. I have made an assumption that the case will be “put on hold” during any reconciliation. It is always possible the parties could agree that many of the issues that I have addressed in the last two blogs could continue - as an example, the parties could agree to have each side complete interrogatories and request for production of documents. This would keep the case “on track” but may leave a bad taste in the mouth of one or both parties. The parties could file a motion asking for a continuance of the trial date. I have never asked for a continuance based on this reason, but I suspect the court would be receptive to it (there is a statute that allows for a continuance of up to 60 days for counseling). Of course, when it is all said and done, it is always possible to dismissed the action to eliminated the timing issues that I have addressed in this blog. Dismissing the divorce case always leaves open the door to re-file at a later date. ___________________________________________________ This blog article is not intended to convey legal advice, but only address some of the general rules. Most legal issues, in family law cases, depend on the specific facts. Should you wish to discuss your particular situation with the Law Office of Thomas A. Chillquist, please call or email my office. I am a family law lawyer (divorce attorney) and I represent parties in family law, and divorce, matters in King and Pierce County, Washington, including Kent, Federal Way, Covington, Renton, SeaTac, Des Moines, Fife, Auburn, Seattle, Bellevue, Puyallup, Orting, Tacoma and Mercer Island. Copyright Thomas A. Chillquist
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:26:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015