If You Have Filed for Divorce and Need Help From the Court As Soon As Possible – You Need a TEMPORARY RELIEF HEARING!

When you file for divorce, in many cases, you need a Court to enter an Order as soon as possible so that you will receive help with child custody, time sharing of children, use of a home, use of a car, support money, access to accounts, payment of bills, money for an attorney and an accountant, etc.

Many people come to us and do not realize that their divorce case will be split into two distinct halves, the Temporary Relief portion and the Permanent Relief portion.  Each has its own necessity and its own procedure.  The reason the process if essentially doubled is that it can take close to a year or perhaps more than a year to obtain a FINAL Order from the Court dividing up assets, determining living arrangement, setting time sharing of children, etc.  Since very few people can go on that long without help, the Courts use a procedure by which you can get Temporary Relief.

While a person representing themselves can ask for and obtain temporary relief, it is a complex and confusing process that has many ins and outs.  First, you must ask for it.  The request may be contained in your petition, such as asking for temporary relief – but the better course is to ask in the petition and in a separate motion asking for temporary relief, and spelling out what you want and why – specifically.  many times a judge will say “I cannot do that – as you did not ASK for it in your motion.”  So the motion has to be thorough so as to give notice as to what you are asking for.

The judges assistant can give you a time for the hearing.  However, almost all circuits require that you attend temporary relief mediation as a prerequisite to getting a hearing date and time.  When we know that a client needs temporary relief, the first thing we do after serving the papers is to call the opposing lawyer and schedule temporary mediation.  Note that you have to complete mediation and not settle the temporary issues to get the hearing.  Once this is done the judicial assistant will give a hearing time of approximately 30 minutes, with 15 minutes reserved for each side.  Asking for more time will put the date of the hearing way off into the future – so you will have to work with the 30 minutes to get into court as soon as possible.  It is impossible to argue every temporary issue in 15 minutes per side.  Keep in mind that the hearing is “evidentiary” meaning that you have to have witnesses and evidence which the court must accept.  So – in your 15 minutes you have to make an opening statement, call your client to the stand, have them identify their financial affidavit and their spouses financial affidavit, point out to the court the differences, testify about issues involving the children, tell the court why you need the house, prove up your attorneys fees and your support, etc, etc. – however, there are shortcuts – and most of it can be accomplished.  Once the judge rules on the temporary issues – that is IT.  You are stuck with the ruling till the end of the case, and many times the court does not change anything in the final order.  This essentially makes the temporary relief hearing – THE MOST IMPORTANT HEARING YOU WILL EVER HAVE!

If you find yourself in such a position it is best to consult an attorney with substantial experience. There are so many different circumstances that a proper answer to your particular problem can only be obtained by a trained and experienced lawyer.

If you have any question regarding this or any other legal matter our firm may be able to help you. Please contact Jupiter Legal Advocates at (561) 748-8000 or email us at [email protected] for further information and assistance. We try our very best to respond immediately.

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JUPITER LEGAL ADVOCATES

561 748-8000
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