Confusion that never stops
Closing walls and ticking clocks ….
Cursed missed opportunities
Am I a part of the cure
Or am I part of the disease?
-Clocks By Coldplay, 2002
In the first of this 3-post series, we discussed agreements to resolve your case; in part 2 we discussed using short term solutions to make progress or keep you going while you search for solutions.
In this post, I want to talk about how the judge can help you move your case on the schedule.
We get it – scheduling a trial can be hard.
Although I don’t personally believe everyone “wants their day in court” (I think you just want solutions and have been told that going to court is the way that happens), there is no doubt the courts are busy. Sometimes this is just because it’s hard to find times that work for multiple parties, lawyers and judges.
But sometimes, it's hard to get a trial date because someone doesn’t want to go to court.
This could be because they are delaying the inevitable. This is not uncommon when one party hasn’t yet come to terms with a breakup. At other times, a party may genuinely need a delay because they need time to get information (called discovery) which someone is blocking or stalling. There are cases where trials get delayed because they require a lot of court time and it’s hard to find multiple days in a row open for scheduling.
There are times where the lawyer involved hasn’t imposed limits on how many cases they have, so they just can’t/won’t find the time for a trial – especially if their client isn’t in a big hurry.
So, what do you do?
The first and easiest solution is for both sides to talk through the scheduling problem. And by talk, I don’t mean email. This can lead to endless chains of back and forth. Instead, it is easiest to schedule in real time with all parties on the phone. This is what lawyers do (or should do) to get past log jams. To set this approach up for success, request a time to talk about scheduling with the other side. That way you both have your calendars and are focused on the issue.
If that doesn’t work, either because you can’t communicate effectively or you are getting the run around, what do you do?
Your judge can help.
Because judges are not allowed to talk to one side of a case without the other present, you need to have a time set aside. It may seem counter-intuitive to seek a hearing so you can get a hearing but stay with me.
There is a process for handling these kinds of details called a “status hearing.”
These are brief hearings where the parties meet with a judge to walk through housekeeping issues. They are typically sort and focused. If you are both representing yourselves, the court likely set a status check for you. If you don’t have a lawyer but your spouse/partner/coparent does, this is a great tool to “level the playing field.” As always, it’s important to be clear about what you’re solving for. In other words, this isn’t a time to complain about the problem. It's a time to ask the court for help in a brief and business like way.
For example, instead of leading with “my wife/husband’s lawyer is giving me the runaround,” you could say, “Your Honor, I am asking for help setting a trial which I haven’t been able to do working directly with their lawyer.”
Another way to get the court to help you in case you are the one seeking to delay a hearing not because you don’t want it but because you need discovery, you can set a status hearing for the same time as your hearing to compel documents.
The point is that judges don’t want to see high caseloads, log jams or delays. They want their caseloads to move and to use their time well.
If you are running into delays or bottlenecks, ask your lawyer or find a lawyer who “unbundles,” provides “limited scope” assistance or consults to help you move forward.