Contempt Motion procedure?

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Hi,
I filed a Motion for Contempt, affidavit and order to show cause on my ex-wife.
I thought that the procedure was for her to file a responsive motion with her affidavit stating why she thought she was not in contempt of point A, B, .... However she didn't file such a motion nor affidavit.

What will then happen in court? is it the same as saying she isn't denying the fact? And so because of this I am not sure what to expect at the first hearing. The first hearing is usualy to review the motion and responsive motion and go for an evidentiary hearing.

Could you give me some details since I am going pro-se (and she is as well) as to what to expect because she failed to file her responsive motion?

[gipsy]

I have not filed contempt , However belonged to a mens group , And will relate the possibilities , With as little great detail as possible .
    SHE WILL LIE !!  And that could be the end of my story
  BUT ,FIrST ! Did you have her served   That paper , I think is called an affidavit of service In washington state , Filed with the court ? If not Get some one , And Not you ! To serve her , I have served people and I had to sign an affidavit of service , And file it at the court,There are also people that do this for 50 to $100, If  you don't legally have the affidavit filed , Your contempt is of zero use , She will not show and the court can't do any thing , She has to be served !!
 Here's what happened to My cousin , My very cool  atty filled the papers out for Him pro se < For free In like ten minutes , Some lucky guy got to serve the Psycho ( I volunteered  but didn't get the spot ) And they  Both showed up .Pro se, And the commissioner told them to  Work Out the visitation issues , And of they can't then ,They would have to come back to court ,
     But during  the waiting period  The psycho Started adhearing to the parenting plan ,  I showed up at the first visit with a video camera , And the Pick up was at Psycho sister's House . SOOO they started flipping us off etc , And I put the camera up and they behaved , I highly recommend . As My atty does ,that you show for the visits at the time and place ,And keep note .
  Also In the men's group I learned : You probably won't get the court to find her in contempt , Unless you have some documentation that really proves she Did it on purpose ,
  So what usually happens is , You say " Your Honor I have had to bring this before the court because Mom hasn't been complying with the court ordered parenting plan , Specifcally [The Issue ) Usually visitation
   And Unless the court intervenes she will continue to deny My visits . I want regular contact with My children and she hasn't been allowing that By : (What ever She is doing )
     
 And she will say Her dog died , Or her Aunt was sick or something like that , And it wasn't intentional ,
   And then You will be likely to have another word , And this is what My atty say's , And he tell's pro se guy's to say this :
    I am asking the court to Make a finding of contempt , Because Mom won't let me see the kids on a regular basis " And I also ask for make up time " And name times and dates you have off work, for the time to take place and the pick up and drop off time and place ,
   The reason My atty say's to do this, Is simple . He say's " It's not likely that you will get her on contempt the first time , But it's more likely that you will get make up time , And if you do then She had to take all the effort to respond and show up for court and had to give up the visit any way , So ask for make up time .  , Now if the commissioner agrees to make up time Or Contempt , You have to have iether a paper for finding of contempt , Or A court order , that will spell out the make up time , If you don't Keep reading my post
   Secondly I learned form My Many court expieriences , And watching other cases as Mine was coming up . If she makes up a story about you say clearly , I deny the allegations , All of her allegations deny, Or The court will tend to believe her , Deny ,deny, deny, as said By My cohorts . Buck Naked With no Blankets , And her heels Up, deny it happened , Unlees they have a picture or a document filed, its hearsay at court ,
 
 So My opinion Is this , If she shows You could get make up time . But again as my atty say's you have to keep fileing contempt , Eventually the court will see it your way ,
 And My atty say's For pro se . In Pierce county , Go to the court and get a copy of the CD Of the hearing and then go home and listen to it ,
  Then the next time You will know better , AND My atty say's maybe the commissioner was asking for something you left out , And next time you will have it ! But he Say's " By the time you Listen to three or four Cd's of your self trying to get a contempt , By the fourth or fifth time , You will have it right  , And The court should have it right !
   The other option is , She doesn't show In wich you file a default order . If she doesn't show , Take your Note book straight to commissioner services :  Pierce county washington court:
   And write down What you need to file probably a default order, go To the law library and ask for it , or the other orders I mentioned
  Now a bit of My input about dealing with the people at the court . ;Again as advised By My atty , Keep your story short and play the victim role , " My atty Is a smart cookie and he explains ; People always want to help the victim In America , : And in Court !
   So when you go to commissioner services of course don't play toooo HAAARD , Just say , I need the Default order , Because The mother hasn't been letting me see the kids , And we all want to see each other , And I probably am going to need a little help ? Then shut up and write the names of everything they tell you to get and where to go and say , Ok  , As In  My deal I did , I had to go to the law library and get X Y and Z Paper , Well of course by the time i got all that I went back to commissioner services and had to ask if I did it right , : BE NICE , It is so important , In pierce county they will Help you , My atty told me to be nice to them , SO I did and I got the motion Filed and then used My atty's aid to have her served , And she filed the affidavit of service , And then I filed the default order , also in the same way , JUST Be really nice to every one remmember you want them to help. and people help nice people ,
  Heres another case I watched , Couple argues their case before the commissioner , They tell the commissioner how each other is bad , At Length , AS will always happen the commissioner said " I understand that you aren't getting along , What's the Issue ?
   So the guy said , I need to get X Y And z stuff from the house and see the kids for a temp order <
   The Wife say's Blah Blah ,
   The commissioner say's Does he love his kids ,
   Wife : Yes
  Commissioner : Does he take care of them when he watches them ?
   Wife :"Yes "
  Commissioner : OK I need you  to present me with an order stateing he has temprary visits untill you sort this out " And An order to get X Y AND Z out of the house , And I will sign it "
' obviously i was there and ,My Cool attty was there , And another cool atty Were able tio give them a blank ORDER OF THE COURT , And they left ,
  I left Didn't see the end
   But heres the deal : I have learned With My many court issues over My son ,Usually I realised the commissioners ARE NOT IMPRESSED  With a bunch of How bad the other person is they want the facts ,
   And the facts for me were , Basically I showed up with an atty and asked for An order for the issue and briefly stated ,
   The GAL has recommended X And Mom won't cooperate so I have to ask the court to sign the order , And Moms atty went BLAH BLAH , I could tell the commissioner's are not Impressed , Then the commissioner asked My atty what I wanted , I said " I want to see My son 'I don't want to be involved in the Mud slinging ,
   GET THIS ! The female commissioner SMILED directly at me and said "when "? And What I didn't realise Is I need to have times and dates of pick up prepared In order to answer ,
   So I asked for more than I would get and the commissioner didn't give me all the time I wanted with My son , But Gave Me about the standard , With an extra day , Because I had an interactive class to do with My son .
   NOW GET THIS , The big Blow hard atty I fired , Went to court , And BLEW HARD ! And Just costed me money !! And I fired The dip stick !
 
  SOOO Go  Call the court and expect to be on the phone for a while , And also know what part of the court you will be in ,As in : Except for trial, I alway's went to the commissioners docket ,
 ask about that , And go watch the commissioners docket . And what I learned about this court is you get like five minutes before a commissioner ,
   And you will see how its done ,
  BUT now If you really want to twist the issue !Pierce county wash: If the commissioner doesn't do what you want, you can schedule a hearing before a real judge , By fileing a MOTION FOR RECONSDIRATION. Then you go see a real judge , But I would advise you to ask a local atty before thaT ,  
    good luck , Suit up, show up ,And be really calmn not matter what , OH Yeah , And don't fall for the trick she may pull of trying to be nice and get you to drop it , If she does this say OK Whatever , And show up and get a default order , Then tell her " I bet if you don't give me the kids again We go back to court " And walk away . I have other posts that tell how I handle things , Trust me My psycho Has Had My son there and ready for like two years running    As My psycho said when she was starteing to learn , She said " I know you will " And her atty sent a letter stateing that I need to tell when the makeup time would be <
   I come back and post because I feel that I have been successfull In at least getting my visits , And I owe it to the people on these boards to tell them that You sometimes have to file contempt , Or what ever and make them cooperate , As In My case  I think she knows I am just waiting for her to screw up . And As usuall she will just get legal sevice ,
Actually Id like to get her for two contempt in one year than I could challenge custody again , Because in Wash state Two In one year is reason for change of custody ,

[patton]

Okay we've filed papers on ex before.  Ex LIED and said she didn't reply on papers served on her.  Yes be sure she is served.  She's got something like 20 days to answer.  Probably depending on the state.

I called the county clerk and low and behold there was a response there.  No much of one, and anything that made a lot of sense, BUT since she did more of less try to fight it I hired me an attorney for the day for $500 to show up in court with me.  I won, she lost.

[MixedBag]

in WV, and NV, neither EX had to file a reply to the "Motion to Show Cause"....

It was filed and then a hearing set down the road....

And maybe a "Pre-Trial" hearing first before a formal hearing....