in NC, does anyone know if it is proper to send a Judge a letter, and CC opposing Counsel, seeking Clarification or Intent on a ruling.
1. Ruling was handed down 3 days ago
2. Written Order and Finding of Facts have not been received or Filed as of time of this writing
The Clarification is needed as the ruling affects the educational location of the child in the action, and there is only 1 week before he is to be enrolled in school. School currently out for spring break.
Thanks and the answers will not be taken as legal advice, just wondering if anyone has done anything similar, or knows if it is considered proper or not.
I would try first to call the judge's clerk:
Tell them you just got the ruling but you do not see where it says about schoolingn and child needs to start school next week. They may help you, may even ask the judge. See where you can get with that...
or
Call other lawyer and see what his interpretation is...
The clerk may be able to tell you if the other papers are ready and not just mailed out yet. Sometimes I was able to go and look at file myself and see it before they mailed it out.
You got a verbal decision 3 days ago.....right?
Get a copy of the transcript or recording of the hearing -- and call the clerk to see whom you have to contact in order to do this.
then you gotta sit tight until the order that reflects the hearing is drawn up and filed and sent.
UNTIL then, you don't know WHAT it's gonna say, and HOW it's gonna say it.
In WV, we both were allowed to submit corrections and comments to the final order before it really became final.
Don't know how it works in NC.
And we didn't always get to do that, but his latest round, that's how it worked.
Thanks I will try that route, but based on past experiance with the Clerks office, it is not going to be easy.
Mixedbag
great insight there, I know what judge stated as I wrote down about every word, but how the final order reads is going to be anyones guess.
One of the parties' counsel (or if they were pro se, one of the parties) is to write the Order, not the judge (we dealt with NC before the case was transfered). The judge just signs it. Also, it can take a few days to do... We've gotten Orders dated a week or two later, sometimes.
Bloom....that can vary from state to state. In WV, we were both pro se, and therefore the judge wrote it up.
Scupper -- get a copy of the recording of the hearing yesterday. I too thought I wrote accurate notes down as to what the judge ordered, but when I listened to the recording, both of us were wrong on one issue, that we both rebutted.
And since the recording arrived "too late" here -- it was in the second letter that I sent that quoted time stamps that didn't even get "in" or considered.