For those who view the world through the lens of exotic or classic car ownership, the process of having worked hard enough and long enough to afford a rare automobile gives those owners an education that is simply not for sale. It cannot be taught – it has to be earned. Information about such cars cannot be bought – it must be gathered. It is this personal touch that allows the car owner to know the nuances of any particular vehicle’s strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncrasies. Each car upon which the dedicated owner has placed their eyes and hands has been considered more closely than most people’s mothers were considered when children were young and mothers were of higher interest than were toys and television shows. The same is true for a family court case. When the matters evolve and a family grows, these changes will cause emotions to change and turn towards divorce or legal separation that require the need for highly refined information about how the family law arena works. What follows is a four part analogy between the real world and the world of divorce or legal separation as viewed from the lens of the dedicated car owner. As the magnitude of the family situation gains a new level of complexity, the parties must take a step back, and meet with a lawyer to discuss the dynamics of their case and what is going to occur next. Much like an owner of a special car gathering recent information about a troublesome area of the car, the lawyer meets the client in a private area of the family court. This process of a meeting – or as it is called, what is a status hearing in family court – is scheduled by the client’s lawyer, or even by the court, depending on the circumstances of the case. At the status hearing, the lawyer and client will discuss the litigation goals of the client, the client’s legal rights, obligations and issues that need to be addressed and either resolved or litigated in order to resolve the case. When your lawyer sets a status hearing, you need to be aware that your lawyer is doing so to ensure that you are fully informed of the procedural issues at hand – not to provide you with some sort of penal oversight. The status hearing is what we call our “status conferences” in the case. It is an opportunity for both people to come together to discuss the case outside of the more formal and less controlled setting of court, which is then done in front of a judge at a later date. At the status hearing, the judge becomes involved to review the procedural log of the case, to ensure that there is nothing that needs to be done as a result of prior mandates. Sometimes people forget to do what the events of court require. The judge and client will then be able to schedule other events as necessary, such as a settlement conference or even a trial, if sufficient time does not exist to resolve the matter amicably in one of the progressive forms that sometimes occur before getting on to the trial date. At the end of the status hearing, the essential information regarding your case will have been spoken. But, this is not the end of the road. There is much work to be done – proof to be gathered, trials to be scheduled, and negotiations to be continued.
For more information on family court processes, you can visit the Wikipedia page on family courts.