Failing to File Your Response: “Well I thought we had agreed on everything” is the typical response when asked the question why a litigant did not file a response. Typically, any legal case starts with being served a Summons and a Petition (in Family Law). The party served then has 30 days to file their Response.
This tells the court they will be participating in the resolution of the case and, therefore, the court, once the Response is filed, will not take any action unless and until both parties either agree or have their day in court. Filing a responsive pleading is especially important in Family Law since there are also mini-hearings or trials that can occur during a divorce. Even if a litigant files a Response to the Summons and Petition, a response still needs to be filed for every mini-hearing or trial. Failing to do so can be extremely costly.
Failing to Wrap Up the Entire Case: A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO” pronounced quadro) is probably the single most important of all documents in a dissolution matter! Under California law, spouses are each entitled to one-half of the community estate. This means that in a dissolution matter, a spouse is entitled to one-half of any retirement/pension plans/401(k), etc. A QDRO is simply a document that awards you your interest in your spouse’s retirement plan which is prepared by your attorney or some other professional and is ultimately filed with the court and served on the Plan Administrator. No other document will do this, not even a Judgment of Dissolution. Oftentimes this document is not drafted (if at all) until one of the parties decides to retire and by that time, it may be too late and the money can be gone.
Failing to Hire an Attorney: Everyone has heard the old saying, “represent yourself and you have a fool for a client.” This is due in part because divorces are highly emotional. Court is highly evidentiary in nature. Emotions rarely play any part in court in a divorce case. When a litigant focuses on the emotional aspect, they are going to miss the evidentiary aspect of a legal proceeding and, thus, generally do very poorly in court. If you are contemplating a divorce or know someone who is, have them schedule a consultation with an attorney at the very least. There are many ways attorneys can assist a litigant no matter the litigant’s budget. If you don’t walk away from the consult with a few options, get a second opinion.
For more information about annulments and other family law matters, contact the Reape-Rickett Law Firm at 661-288-1000. They are located at 25152 Springfield Court, Suite 100 in Valencia.