Discovery & Interrogatories

[mango]

Dumb question - easy one for you.

Background info:
Franklin county, OH court.
We are Defendant (BF) pro se.
BM suing for sole custody based on childs wishes. She just reached 12. Case open since Feb 2005. Currently 50/50 joint plan, BM school district, no child support order. Plaintiff asked for finacials and Discovery etc. (probably for support order)

So far he has only been defending his position to stay in the current plan.

1.) Can he request financials/Discovery and Interrogatories from the otherside even if he is not counter filing for custody? Reason being, we would like to be able to argue back her inability to support herself over the past years, and she is in no position to have sole custody. Plus would like to request her school schedules as she takes night classes and leaves child home alone repeatedly. Which we feel is valid in court.

2.) To request Discovery does he need to file it through court, or can he just request it through her attorney? Is this considered a motion?

[socrateaser]

>1.) Can he request financials/Discovery and Interrogatories
>from the otherside even if he is not counter filing for
>custody? Reason being, we would like to be able to argue back
>her inability to support herself over the past years, and she
>is in no position to have sole custody. Plus would like to
>request her school schedules as she takes night classes and
>leaves child home alone repeatedly. Which we feel is valid in
>court.

Discovery is permitted if it is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. So, if financial info from the other party is relevant to a final calculation of child support, then you can request discovery, via interrogatories, or production requests, or deposition, etc.

>
>2.) To request Discovery does he need to file it through
>court, or can he just request it through her attorney? Is this
>considered a motion?

Generally, you can serve a formal discovery request for production or for interrogatories by first class mail signed by you, pro se, with a certification of service attacted and attested to by a third party. In some jurisdiction, the cert must be notarized, if it's not signed by a licensed attorney. You don't file the request with the court -- that only happens with a third-party subpoena, not with a party-opponent discovery request.