I am not kidding, it is Chapter 13 of the Connecticut Practice Book 2011. Yes, the infamous Chapter 13, your ex husband's unlucky number. Chapter 13 is all about discovery and depositions, the big guns of the divorce process.
If you were like me and had practically no idea of what was going on financially in your marriage over a period of years, Chapter 13 is the key to everything. In my miserable case, my attorney acted as though he had never heard of discovery and I was too stupid to know better. But don't you be stupid.
The word "Discovery" relates to getting all the evidence you need in order to pursue your case. The most relevant section here is Section 13-9 "Requests for Production, Inspection and Examination" This section dictates how you can obtain evidence such as documents, tape recordings, reports, photographs, etc. from your ex husband in order to pursue your case. Without these items, you can't prove a darned thing and you have no foot to stand on.
There is also Section 13-4 which dictates how you can obtain and use any expert witnesses you want to bring into the case such as a psychiatrist or a forensic accountant. The most important piece of information you need to note here is that if you are going to present an expert witness in your case, you need to notify the other party at least 30 days in advance that you intend to bring in that witness. Otherwise, you will not be able to use the expert witness at trial. None of the financial or psychiatric evidence you present will be considered seriously by the court unless you have an expert to back it up. That is how important an expert witness is.
Then there are Sections 13-6 explaining interrogatories and Section 13-22 explaining Requests for Admission. Both interrogatories and requests for admission are incredibly fun and helpful because they ask your ex husband to answer questions under oath on paper. So with these documents you get to ask questions such as, "Isn't it true that you stole $100,000 from your joint bank account with your wife?" and your ex has to answer truthfully. If he does, and he did steal the money, then you have your admission and you don't have to do any more work. If he lies, then you have him for perjury. It is great--no opportunities for wiggling and waffling and kicking up dirt to obscure the landscape which happens on the stand or at deposition.
And check out Sec. 13-25 "Expenses on Failure to Admit. "If a party fails to admit...the truth of any matter as requested...the Court may order that party pay to the offended party "the reasonable expenses incurred" in proving it. I just love The Practice Book. It is so full of sensible procedures like that!
Then you have Sections 13:27-30 which covers depositions. Depositions, which are also conducted under oath, are the most useful approaches to discovering information and putting it on the record for trial later on. In essence, they are the same thing as interrogatories and requests for admission, but they are done verbally with a stenographer taking down the testimony rather than being done on paper. The advantage of this is that the testimony is done extemporaneously and within this context people often acknowledge very personally damaging information or they drop hints about what their defense will be or where other important information can be found.
A deposition is also the best way to get the essential documents that you need for trial. In a divorce, depositions require that each party bring to the deposition all items listed in an attached document entitled Schedule A which is included in the subpoena summoning your ex to the deposition. These items include pay stubs, bank account statements, investment account statements, retirement account statements, credit card statements--everything included in a person's financial picture. Often a single deposition can do the trick in terms of getting everything you need, but if your ex refuses to bring any of the listed documents, you have it on record that he defied a subpoena, plus you get all his miserable, lying excuses for doing so right on the record. Nothing is better than that.
Finally, there are three very important pieces of information that may affect you seriously related to the issue of discovery:
1) If you are faced with a situation where your ex husband is asking you for documents that would seriously embarrass you were it brought before the court, you have a remedy, Section 13-5 Protective Order. It may not work, but you can try. And don't let an attorney tell you not to try. It is always worth trying to protect yourself from harm and embarrassment;
2) According to Section 13-15, each party has a continuing duty to disclose. So, your ex cannot go to court and say he discovered some vital document after the deposition and figured he didn't have to hand it in. At any time during the pretrial period that the other party finds a requested document, he or she is required to produce it voluntarily;
3. If your ex refuses to comply with discovery and provide the information you have requested, you must submit a Motion to Compel the other party to give you what you need. See Section 13-14. In a divorce action, if you have requested documents and the other party ignores the request and you do nothing about it, then you will have NO recourse. You are assumed to be going along with the refusal and agreeing to it. So do not get yourself in that position.
There are many other delightful tidbits of information in Chapter 13, so make sure you read the chapter word by word. It will probably be the most valuable thing you do. Remember, knowledge is power, and documents are power and confessions are power.
You may ask me, why am I telling you all this? I'll tell you why. Because your own lawyer won't tell you about it. Most likely, he or she won't even follow through properly on the procedures. This leaves you to tell your attorney what to do. So make sure you've read the chapter so you can provide the proper guidance.
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