subpoena duces tecum ?!?!

[spinner]

Dear Socrateaser,

Ex and I are currently under review for Child support Modification.
We are both pro-se

Today my ex-wife got a subpoena and served my employer however her subpoena is a DUCES TECUM subponea and under that paragraph she asked my employer for a copy of my paychecks from last year.

furthermore she checked the "schedule attached case box and attached an adendum where she asks for the paystubs to be mailed to her.

My employer showed me not knowing what to do so I researched DUCES TECUM and found that it is a subponea to appear and show proof, ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpoena_duces_tecum
which is not what she is asking at all. I believe she miss used this subponea form ?!?!?!
Did she?


Furthermore I went to the court and asked myself for a subponea of the same kind which the court gladly gave me for 12$ and signed, put the sceal but the form is all blank for me to fill.

Again I believe this is because the subponea that she served and that I filed is actually not a subponea to request information but rather for a witness to showup in court.


Let me know your thoughts.

[MixedBag]

soc is not around anymore...

And that's too technical.

Exchange financial information and start with the papers.

Call or ask your county clerk IF this means he has to appear.

Could be that he has to "testify" that they are your pay stubs.

I know, nothing ever goes smoothly for you.  It always seems to be one thing or another in court and that stinks.

[jilly]

A Subpoena Duces Tecum is a request for production of documents.  I'm a paralegal and used to work for a personal injury law firm.  When a case was going to trial we'd serve a Subpoena Duces Tecum for medical records to the person over medical records.  They weren't required to appear; only to produce the records for trial.

So, ifyou and your EX are going for a child support modification then she has used the correct form.  After all, without pay stubs how is she going to know if there's been a substantial change in circumstances that would increase child support?  

[spinner]

I understand
So anyone can go to court pay 12$ and ask for personal informations without a release?

I mean yes we need to give paystub which I already gave to the judge.

I understand the paradox that she need to know my pay to ask for a change but let's reverse the question then.

I went to court and obtained myself a blank subponea of the same kind. Can I simply send it to her Dr, employment and maybe even her place of worship asking for documents?

Shouldn't there be a presumption of privatie? From what I read in the statute the CS office or a judge can do this but she doesn't without a release signed by me or a judge's order??!?!

I am just very surprised that there are no safe-guards for privacy. for example that blank subponea I could fill it up and request that the governor of the state shows me his W2 ?!?!?



I mean for example I can get a subponea for 12$ and send this to the credit burreau and request informations (credit report) on anyone?

[mistoffolees]

If she doesn't think it's appropriate, she can challenge a subpoena.

We filed a subpoena for my ex's financial property documents and she challenged it. Of course, since our request was entirely reasonable (how do we split our assets if we don't know what they are?), she lost her challenge, but it's possible to do so.

If your request is unreasonable enough, she could challenge it AND ask the court to make you pay her attorney's fees.

[spinner]

in my case though, she subponea my work and I only knew because the guy in HR is a friend.

so I have a question:
1- how do you chalenge a subponea
2- how do you chalenge a subponea when you don't even know someone got one ?!?!

[mistoffolees]

>in my case though, she subponea my work and I only knew
>because the guy in HR is a friend.
>
>so I have a question:
>1- how do you chalenge a subponea
>2- how do you chalenge a subponea when you don't even know
>someone got one ?!?!


You challenge a subpoena by filing in court to block it.

If you don't know that someone got it, then there's obviously no way to challenge it, but anyone with a fiduciary responsibility should notify the person that they received a subpoena affecting them before they respond. For example, my ex's mutual fund company had to notify her that they had received a subpoena before they fulfilled it.

I don't know if an employer has the duty to do that or not. I would suspect that they do - since employment records are considered to be private. Your friend might get himself in trouble if he provides you with those documents without giving her a chance to respond, but I don't know.

[spinner]

first I want to say thanks a lot for all the help and details to help me understand.

If the employment records are private, isn't there is a rule to prevent anyone with a subpoena without an order of the judge to obtain them ?

[jilly]

You can't just send out a subpoena to everyone and his brother just for the heck of it.  There has to be an ongoing court action to which the requested documents are relevant to the case. You could try to subpoena the governor for his W2's but I guarantee you it wouldn't happen!  LOL

She doesn't need a signed release by you or a judge's order to subpoena your records.  They're relevant to a pending court action.

[spinner]

I understant.

how does one determine if it is relevant to the case?
I mean ok not the governor's W2 but how does one determine the relevance of the request to the case?
As far as my employment is concerned they do not know if there is a case or court date other than the case number on the subpoena.

For example I could subpoena her health record on the ground that it will tell us if she can work or not. Or I could subpoena her 401k records, .... ??? I could subpoena the IRS for her tax record , ... credit burreau for her financial information and credit worthyness on the ground that she can get a credit or not to pay attorney's fees, ....

There has to be a limit as to what "one" can request without a judge's signature.

In the past when she had an attorney, her attorney asked for me to sign a release form to authorise release of employee file, .... which I then refused and had the opportunity to discuss in front of the judge which agreed not to release since I already had provided paystubs, ... but here she just go subpoena and doesn't ask for a release at all.

I am in minnesota so I was reading the privacy law
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/wia/policy/TitleIII/1300-06.htm
and it states that either a judge, or me with a release can authorise, no one else. subpoena or not, the data is private and protected no ?