Recent Posts in New Court Forms Category
| November 10, 2011 |
| Proposed 2012 REVISIONS to JUDICIAL COUNCIL FORMS; ATTORNEY FEE REQUESTS |
| Posted By Thurman Arnold, CFLS |
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Palm Springs Divorce and Family Law Attorney Mark D. Gershenson was kind enough to provide me the Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee Report to the Administrative Office of the Courts, Judicial Council of California submitted on October 28, 2011, to become effective on January 1, 2012. I want to share it with you.
Specifically these recommend the adoption of the following new Rules of Court and Judicial Council Forms that will be applied to and used in California family law proceedings:
- Rule 5.93 relating to attorney fee and cost applications, which identifies the steps for a litigant or court to take in requesting, responding to a request for, and awarding fees and costs based upon financial need;
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Approve optional form FL-157, Spousal or Partner Support Declaration Attachment,
for litigants to use, as an attachment to the
Request for Attorney's Fees and Costs Attachment
(form FL-319),
Declaration for Default or Uncontested Judgment
(form FL-170),
Application for Order
(form FL-310) and
Order to Show Cause
(form FL-300) or
Notice of Motion
(form FL-301) to request that the court award, modify a request, or deny a request for spousal or domestic partner support and to provide supporting facts that address the issuesidentified in Family Code section 4320, which are also required in a request for attorney's fees and costs;
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Approve optional form FL-158,
Supporting Declaration for Attorney's Fees and Costs Attachment
, for litigants to use, as an attachment to
Request for Attorney's Fees and Costs Attachment
(form FL-319) or
Responsive Declaration to Order to Show Cause or Notice of Motion
(form FL-320), to provide the court with additional background information either in support of or in opposition to a request for needs-based attorney's fees and costs, such as any history of child support, spousal or partner support, or family support orders;
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Approve optional form FL-319,
Request for Attorney's Fees and Costs Attachment,
for litigants to use, as an attachment to the
Application for Order
(form FL-310) and
Order to Show Cause
(form FL-300) or
Notice of Motion
(form FL-301), to request that the court award needs-based attorney's fees and costs;
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Approve optional form FL -346
Attorney's Fees and Costs Order Attachment
, for the court to use, as an attachment to
Findings and Order After Hearing
(form FL-340),
Judgment (form FL-180), or Judgment (Uniform Parentage-Custody and Support)
(form FL-250), to identify court findings and orders with respect to needs-based attorney's fees and costs; and
-
Revise mandatory form FL-340,
Findings and Order After Hearing
, to improve organization and numbering, add clarifying language in item 1, add a reference to "parenting time" in item 2, add "Other" check boxes in items 2-6, add a check box for the court to attach new form FL-346 (see item 5 of this recommendation) in item 6, and add a check box for the court to order a continuance in item 9.
For your convenience I have uploaded the October 28, 2011, Report to the Judicial Council here. This includes the proposed forms. |
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| May 02, 2011 |
| Announcing the REVENGE of ELKINS - How Family Courts Are Making Your DIVORCE More Expensive Than Ever Before! |
| Posted By Thurman Arnold, C.F.L.S. |
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The consequences from the 2011 Elkin's Task Force changes to the Family Code are beginning to take roost, making your efforts to obtain a California divorce, legal separation, annulment, or dissolution of domestic partnership way more expensive then ever before. Which may be a good thing, since we should all be mediating and settling these cases (and financial incentives like this manage to force some litigants to behave more sensibly)!
Family Code section 217 introduced the requirement for live-testimony hearings at OSC's and at notice of motion hearings, and we just don't have the budgetary ability to manage and accommodate all these new contests.
The courts were already over-burdened, but Elkin's Revenge guaranteed that the system would begin to collapse (as I predicted) and we are now beginning to see that this is so. More will be revealed.
The result is that trial judges have, in April, 2011, decided to impose a vast new set of requirements on family law litigants that promises to make their experience of Family Court more expensive and complicated than ever before. Which is a good thing for family law specialists, like myself, ... except that I really do want you to get out of this mess intact and with some money left over for your children's college educations (or just a little peace)! I can't imagine how non-represented parties will navigate through this latest morass, however.
Effective April, 2011, the San Bernardino Family Court has adopted this new form which must be filed with the Court prior to any mandatory settlement conference and before you get a trial date.
Similarly, Riverside County adopted this form under similar circumstances last month.
Oh, and this one too if you are requesting spousal or domestic support. Expect other counties to follow suit. You may be sanctioned for failure to comply with these new informational requirements, and/or you may find you cannot conclude your case until you do comply.
Now I am not saying this is a "conspiracy" to punish recalcitrant litigants and in fact the work that someone (including otherwise lazy family law practitioners) must do to fill these things out guarantees the case is really ready for settlement or trial, on your dime. However, it will take five hours of extra fees in any middle class case with any marriage of significant duration to get them done, and as a non-lawyer do you have any idea what is now expected of you (from reading the questions you must answer)? I doubt it, because it takes a certified family law specialist in California to understand what information is being requested and why it is relevant (and it is). Pro-pers... good luck!
The system is broken because we are all so damned conflicted that nobody wants to give an inch. Give an inch, gain a mile!
Settle your family law disputes (or not as you wish, I have a mortgage to pay too!)
Thurman W. Arnold, III, California Certified Family Law Specialist
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