KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD!

I was sitting next to a friend during a hearing in her case.  The judge had raised some unexpected legal points regarding an aspect of the law that would have to be addressed before he could proceed with a ruling.  He concluded with a suggestion that we schedule another hearing for two months later.  My friend scribbled a quick note on a scrap off paper and passed it over to me.  It said, "Kicking the can down the road?" 

 

I smiled broadly and then quickly sobered up.  Her comment pointed out one of those things about being in family court that are funny, but then again, not so funny.  Specifically, time just doesn't seem to matter to these judges the way it matters to the rest of us folks. 

 

For example, when I first filed for divorce I had heard that it would only take three or four months to get a divorce.  So when my ex proposed a financial agreement that wasn't great, but which I could endure in the short term, I said fine.  Two years later, that agreement was still it place and had gone from not great to insufferable, with no end in sight! 

 

My friend was trying to get a custody matter settled.  She didn't have two more months time available--she needed the children's situation addressed immediately. 

 

But that is the thing about time and how family court works.  Things drag on.  Things fester and suppurate. 

 

There are all sorts of ways that the trial court has to continue on with your matter.  And by continue, I really mean continue, as in Motions to Continue. 

 

-They can continue because the opposing attorney in the case didn't show up. 

 

-They can continue because your own attorney accidentally triple booked cases on that day. 

 

-They can continue because your witnesses couldn't make it to court. 

 

-They can continue because you didn't show up in court--maybe you blanked out that you were supposed to be there, or no one ever told you! 

 

-They can continue because your attorney is sick. 

 

-They can continue because the opposing attorney is sick. 

 

-They can continue because the judge is sick. 

 

-Or maybe the judge himself got triple booked. 

 

Here is a good one.  You arrive in court expecting to hear a motion to order.  But it turns out that over the weekend, the opposing attorney in the case had some brilliant ideas and filed two extra motions that very morning, and the judge thinks they should be heard immediately.  So your motion for order which you thought was going to be heard is now continued until a hearing date two or three months later. 

 

You think that is a violation of your due process right to advanced notice?  Probably you are right about that, but the judge is sick and tired of you and has now decided to use his judicial discretion to deny you due process rights. 

 

You don't like that?  Take it to appeal and you'll get the decision on that a year from now and then you can ask for a reconsideration of any improper rulings that happened while you were waiting for the appeal to ripen. 

 

Delay, obstruction,  convolution, confusion--that's the name of the game at family court! 

 

Another approach legal professionals love is to take an issue, break it down into its individual parts, and have a hearing on each part individually.  So you get an issue like a motion for fraud and attorney's fees. What you do is break up the fraud into each separate act of fraud and fight over threshold issues for each one.  

 

The legal proceedings can keep going, and going, and going, just like the energizer bunny. 

 

In the end, with many cases, people don't really try a case to its conclusion, they just give up. 

 

Then the judge will write up a decision talking about how one or the other party failed to make an adequate case in regard to his or her position. 

 

Plus, a judge who is afraid that his ruling in a particular matter might end up being reversed on appeal can simply delay making a decision for a few years so that by the time it comes out all the parties have exhausted their resources and cannot proceed to an appeal! 

 

And that, everyone, is all you need to know about the tactic known as "kicking the can down the road." 

 

It is a way that family court has devised to avoid all legal responsibility for the complete mess they have made of your life and the lives of your children. 

 

You know that constitutional right you have heard about on TV--the right to a speedy trial?  Trust me, it does not exist in family court. 

 

You see, the opposing side sent a marshall to get the documents from the bank, but the bank personnel failed to get the call, and the marshall got a flat tire on the way there, and after that the copy machine jammed, and then, would you believe it, all the statements from last year are missing their page twos so they have to be redone.  It is an automatic 60 day continuance to straighten everything out. 

 

Meanwhile, you are annoying your boss and your coworkers because you are continually absent from work since you are in court all the time.

 

So, if the opposing side ends up with custody through a legal error, or with the entire family fortune through deception, don't wait for the court to straighten the situation out, because by the time the court catches up with the problems, they will all be gone, the kids and the money!

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