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Court date questions · Family Law Talk

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Family Law Talk.
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  Speaker 2: Family Law Talk.
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  Speaker 1: Presented by Kurt Stangy of Stangy Law Firm PC. Stangy
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  Law Firm is a multi state family law firm. Now
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  here's your host, Kirk Stangy.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to FAMA Law Talk. We have an interesting topic today.
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  The topic is court date questions and this episode today
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  is based on an article on our blog Familylawheadquarters dot
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  com dated March twenty eight, twenty twenty five, and the
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  title of that article is what to know before court Date. So,
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  as a follow up to the episode today, going over
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  to our blog and read this article from more information
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  on this topic. But let's go ahead and jump on in.
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  When there's a court date and a divorce or family
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  law matter, obviously it's important. Those who have no legal
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  background oftentimes have lots of questions about the court date. Right.
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  They start spinning, they start thinking, they start contemplating, they're
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  wondering what's going to happen and what they need to
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  know coming into the court date. Okay, so this is common,
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  this is normal in any non lawyer or anybody who
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  doesn't have a legal background is going to be here.
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  So this is you don't feel bad this is common.
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  Court dates are stressful for a lot of individuals. Court
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  dates bring uncertainty. Obviously, court dates can cause people to
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  become nervous and anxious and they can worry. Okay, So
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  there's lots of questions individuals can have coming into a
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  court date. But here's some of the most common ones
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  that I've heard over the course of the time, and
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  I wanted to cover them because these are good questions
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  to ask an attorney coming into a court date in
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  a divorce or fama law matter. All right, So the
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  first one is what type of court date is this? Right?
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  There's lots of different court dates that can be sent
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  in a divorce or fame law matter. Okay. It could
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  be a trial, like the final trial in a case,
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  and obviously a trial is very important. That's where there's evidence,
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  there's testimony at the inclusion of a trial, than the
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  judge or commissioner is going to make a decision on
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  the case itself. Okay. There can be other hearings that
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  are evidentiary hearings, so they're not a trial, but it's
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  an evidentiary hearing. These can be PDL court dates called
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  pedentate light where the court determines custody and child support
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  in other matters while the case is pending okay. Some
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  jurisdictions use different terminology for it, so it could be
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  a temporary custody hearing. It could be called a temp
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  hearing or tempts hearing. It's goin to very based on
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  what state and locality you're in. Okay. These are obviously
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  very important types of court dates because it can determine
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  how things are going to work while the case is pending. Okay.
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  There are other types of court dates like pre trial conferences.
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  Status conferences. Could be a settlement conference, it could be
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  some other type of motion date where there's not testimony.
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  Could be a motion to compel their emotion for guardian
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  ad litem. There are lots of other possibilities as well.
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  So knowing the type of court date is a big key,
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  all right. If it's a trial or an evidentiary hearing,
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  obviously that can require a party to testify, right, so
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  party's got to be very prepared for that. But if
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  it's another type of court date where they're not going
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  to have to testify and it's a lawyer doing the work,
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  then it's a lot less stress on the party because
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  they don't have to perform in the courtroom. Sometimes they
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  just have to be there to observe, but they don't
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  have to do anything. Okay. So question number one is
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  what type of court date? And am I going to
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  have to testify? Very important? All right? Question two, which
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  is do I need to appear for the court date? Okay?
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  Some court dates a party has to show up to court. Right,
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  Sometimes they just have to be present. Maybe the judge
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  wants them there in theory, that way the case they're
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  could settle. Right, they've got settlement authority because the parties
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  are there. Sometimes the judge wants the parties there that
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  way they can sign temporary custody agreements or something like that. Okay,
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  But knowing whether a party has to be there or
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  not is very important. There's some court dates, particularly the
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  non testimonial motion court dates, where sometimes a party doesn't
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  have to show up to court. But look, when in
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  doubt show up to court. But if a court date's
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  been set, you definitely want to talk to your attorney
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  find out whether you need to be there, and if
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  you need to be there, then you need to be there.
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  Otherwise a judge could take offense to it, so it
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  might entail taken a personal day or a vacation day
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  at work. If you've got kids, getting childcare, like if
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  the kids aren't school, it could be summer vacation. If
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  the kids aren't school, AIDS and getting childcare for the kids.
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  That way you can attend, but it's very important to
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  know whether you need to be there. The third question,
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  which is if you've got to be in court, how
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  do you get to the courthouse? Okay, this can seem obvious,
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  maybe a little bit mundane, but these kinds of details
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  can stress a party out. So what's the address of
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  the courthouse? And not only that, where do you park?
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  In certain locations? This is easy. Maybe it's a courthouse
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  square and you can park on the courthouse square, But
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  in other jurisdictions you might have to pay to park,
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  and you're going to want to know where you can
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  pay to park. It's a huge key, all right. And
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  then other questions are once you get to court, where
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  do you go? Do you go in the courtroom when
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  you get there, Maybe you sit outside on a chair
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  or a bench outside of the courtroom, or maybe there's
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  a conference room where you can go in and wait
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  for your attorney. I mean knowing the answers to these
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  questions are huge. Okay, this is going to be different
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  different jurisdictions for different cases. In some cases you're going
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  to go in the courtroom. In some cases you're going
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  to sit outside or maybe go in a conference room
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  or something like that at the courthouse. But you need
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  to know otherwise you're going to have more stress coming
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  to the court date. All right. I kind of alluded
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  to this one already, But the fourth question is are
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  you going to have to testify? All right? If you're
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  going to have to testify, then preparation is really vital,
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  all right. So if you're going to have to testify,
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  it's almost always advisable to meet with your lawyer in
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  advance of the court date. That way, you're prepared in
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  terms of what types of questions your lawyer might ask you,
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  in terms of what type of questions the other lawyer
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  or the guardian at lightam might ask you, or maybe
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  even the judge. But being prepared for most individuals, right,
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  they're not used to being in the courthouse. They're not
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  used to being in court. That causes somebody to be
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  stressed already. Some individuals might be better on their other feet.
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  They think quickly on their feet. Some people can be
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  very stressed out and then they can be at a
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  loss for their words. They can stutter, stammer, they can
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  be nervous, jittery, you name it. And so meeting your
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  lawyer in advance if you're going to testify as a
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  huge key, huge key, and I almost always advise a
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  client to do that or at a minimum have a
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  zoom meeting or do a telephone call. Be prepared. You
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  don't want to go on the witness stand and not
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  be in any way prepared for what's coming. All right.
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  The fifth question is what issues are before the court
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  at the court date? Right. Knowing what the court can't
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  address or will address, and what the court can't address
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  and won't address is very important. And look for non
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  lawyers this can be hard to understand, but certain court
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  dates put certain issues before the court and other issues
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  might be out there, but it's not before the court
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  on that court date, so the court's not going to
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  address it. So knowing coming into the court date what's
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  before the judge, what's before the court, is a great
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  thing because then your expectations are set in terms of
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  what the issues are in play, and you're going to
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  have a better idea unless frustration walking out of that
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  court day in terms of what did or didn't happen. Okay,
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  So knowing the issues at hand, it's a good question
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  for your lawyer, all right. Another important question is how
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  should you dress in court? All right? This might seem insignificant, okay,
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  but some judges can be much more concerned with etiquette
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  and dress code than others. Right. Some can get really
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  uptight about this, can be offended by it. Some judges
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  might be more laid back about it and it doesn't
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  bug them as much. But knowing how you should dress
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  in court, in a particular court room before particular judge
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  is a huge key when in doubt. I've always told
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  people overdressing is better than underdressing. So if you're not sure,
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  dress a little bit nicer than you think. But I
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  think it's huge to know what a particular judge expects.
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  And if your lawyer has been before this judge before,
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  is familiar with this judge, hopefully they can give you
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  a little bit better idea. But when in doubt, dress
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  nicer than you think you ought to. All right. Another
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  important question, and really the last one I have on
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  my list is this, which is what's the demeanor and
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  the personality of the crucial players in the case. Okay,
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  so some judges, guarding at items, opposing attorneys can be
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  easier to deal with or harder to deal with. And
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  knowing this coming into the court date is just huge
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  because then you know what to expect and it can
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  help guide a party in terms of how to behave
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  and it can help a party have more clarity in
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  terms of what to expect. Okay, so having a conversation
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  with your attorney about this can be huge. You know,
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  what's the judge like, what's the guarding atl item like?
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  What's the other attorney like? Are they easy to deal with?
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  Are they hard to deal with it? Are they aggressive
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  in court? Are they a little bit more laid back
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  and passive? Knowing these deeps hills coming into the court
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  date can be a huge thing, all right. Obviously there's
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  lots of other questions individuals might have about their specific
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  case coming into court date, but again from my vantage point,
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  having a conversation with the attorney that's representing you getting
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  answers to these questions is huge, and then getting answers
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  to other questions you might have might be equally as important.
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  You don't want to come into the court date not
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  be prepared, not know what to expect, and not have
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  answers to your questions. You're going to be less stressed,
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  less worried, less anxious, less jittery if you have a
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  better idea, if how court is going to play itself out. Obviously,
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  no attorney can predict with certainly what's going to happen.
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  Sometimes parties go to court and something out of left field,
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  something unpredictable happens. But to the extent you can get
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  a better idea and surprises can be as minimal as possible.
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  That can be a good thing for most parties going
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  into court date. All right, so that's the top today.
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  As a follow up to the episode, today, going over
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  to my Blogfamoeloheadquarters dot com read the article titled what
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  to know before court Date. The day of the article
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  is March twenty eight, twenty twenty five. This will give
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  you more information on this topic. But thanks for tuning
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  in today, stay tuned to our next episode coming up. Thank
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  you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Family Law Talk with Kirk
• 11:23
  Stangy visit Stangy Lawfirm dot com for more about today's topic,
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  or to put Stangy Lawfirm to work for your family today.
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