subject: What Are The Types And Purposes Of Complaints And Hearings In The Family Court [print this page] During the court process initiated by filing a complaint, many different types of hearings take place. Being aware of the nature and purpose of a complaint and its hearings is essential to your adequate preparations for dealing with them.
*Complaint types and purposes
Family court is sometimes referred to as Divorce court since divorce is a primary issue adjudicated in family court. This involves partitioning the assets of the marriage between the husband and wife, and assigning custody - both physical and legal to one or both of the parents.
Fathers generally are not assigned physical custody of their children and therefore are called the noncustodial parent. They are, however, assigned to make weekly payments to the mother for whatever she wishes to spend this money on often until the child is 22 in some states. These payments are nevertheless called 'child support' since she is the custodial parent.
Complaint for paternity covers the same procedures and results as a complaint for divorce except that there is no division of marital asset since there is no marriage in those states that don't recognize common law marriages.
Lastly, the family court adjudicates complaints for modifications and complaints for contempt. Complaints for modification request a change - i.e. a modification - of an order from a previous complaint because of changed circumstances upon which that previous order was made. As an example, a father may file a complaint for modification of his child support payment since he was laid off from his job and is now on unemployment. His child support is supposed to be based on his current income which has obviously changed.
Complaint for contempt apprises the court that the opposing party has not fulfilled and existing court order and seeks the court to force that person to fulfil the order generally under penalty of jail. As an example, a mother may file a complaint for contempt against the father for not paying all the child support he was ordered to pay under a previous judgment.
*Hearing Types and Purposes
Hearings in the family court are crucial. A 'hearing' is a general name given to an appearance before a judge. Generally, hearings are where the court addresses issues that are preliminary to a trial. A most important hearing is the one for requesting the judge to set temporary orders on child support and custody pending the trial.
Most hearings are 'motion' hearings derived from the word 'motion', i.e. the formal request where one side 'moves' the court (i.e. request that the judge) to make a temporary order of one sort or another about an issue associated with the complaint type that began the court process.
Motions may be made for a variety of reasons - to alter procedural issues, to clarify orders that are ambiguous, to reconsider a judgment following a trial for some inconsistency.
A hearing is generally distinct from a trial. A trial is where the facts of the issue are 'tried' with the formal introduction of evidence, testimony and expert witnesses. The issues of a complaint shall be resolved by the court's judgment after a trial.
Nevertheless, there is what is called an 'evidentiary' hearing. This is, indeed, a trial despite the occurrence of the word 'hearing'. All trial procedures should be in effect at an evidentiary hearing.
An evidentiary hearing is generally called when a single issue is contested. This could be the trial for a modification of a child support order. Or it may be the contempt hearing when one of the parties has been called in under a complaint for contempt for not fulfilling a previous order or judgment of the court. The defendant in this contempt generally should request an evidentiary hearing to be able to prove his position that he is not in contempt.
It is always important for you to understand what is taking place in court. Lawyers are not altogether forthcoming to their clients about all the implications of what's taking place. Clients of lawyers have the responsibility as consumers of the law services to know what they're paying for.
by: Shane Flait
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