Prepping for custody hearing

[jgaff78]

We are gathering all our documentation to submit for our court hearing & need to know if anyone has ever prepared their own evidence for their cases. We know we have to take the documents in to the court clerk to serve BM & her attorney but we are unclear on how it is to be presented. Do the documents need to be labeled? In any specific order? Or do we just take copies of everything we have, shove them in an envelope, & send them out? Yes, we are appearing pro se & we know we would be better off with an attorney, but unlike BM, we can't stop paying our rent & lose our apartment just to pay for a lawyer. Besides, we think we have enough evidence to prove our case & we have received absolutely nothing from BM so apparently she has no evidence to support her. We think she only hired a lawyer to avoid flying up here to appear in court herself.

[ocean]

Not sure how it works and tend to think a lot is up to the judge. When we had a lawyer, we presented tapes, pictures that were not given to dh ex before court. Ex was hearing/seeing them for the first time when I was on the stand, then it was handed to her to and she had the change to question me about the pictures/tapes. The police report evidence was not given to her either.
Maybe a friendly call to the clerk's office asking what the procedure is would help? If not, a call or visit to a lawyers office for an hour consultation may give you the answers you need. Pick someone that has cases with your judge and knows how that judge does things.

[jgaff78]

Well, a short chat with an attorney & $500 later and we should only be a couple days away from knowing if the judge is going to order BM to return SD to us pending the outcome of the custody hearing when it is held. BM's lawyer asked for a continuance at the last minute so we had to talk to a lawyer to find out how to respond. She filed the paperwork asking for SD's return before I even got the retainer to her. We hired the meanest, most determined lawyer I know of in our area. I think she' s already anxious to rip BM to shreds in court.

[DadsCrushed]

There are rules for submitting evidence. First, you do not admit the exhibits into evidence but rather offer them, and the judge makes that call. I would highly recommend that you make three exact sets. One for you, opposing counsel and the record via the Judge. I would have a cover page and each page numbered. If you are using excerpts from a trial you must include the certification page at the end of the transcript. If you are subpoenaing a third party ensure that the custodian of records provides an affidavit.

I'm a pro se litigant and never had problems offering my exhibits into evidence. If opposing counsel objects be prepared to provide a quick supporting argument.

You may also want to file a subpoena duces tecum with an attachment seeking records. If the documents are not provided, well, that's contempt and bodes well for you.

[MixedBag]

I'll second what was just said.

It's not "that easy" -- when I prepared myself, I bought a book fromWestLaw on Family Court Procedures in WV.

Been a while ago, but I also remember submitting an "orginal" letter from DHR here (in AL), that the judge would NOT allow because there was no  one from AL in court to testify that they wrote it.

Frustrating....