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Answers in family law matters · Family Law Talk

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Family Law Talk. Familylaw Talk presented by Kirk
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  Stangy of Stangy Lawfirm PC. Stangy Law Firm is a
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  multi state family law firm. Now here's your host, Kirk Stangy.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to Family Law Talk. We have an interesting topic today.
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  The topic is answers in family law matters and this
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  episode today is based on an article on our blog,
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  Familylawheadquarters dot com and the title of the article is
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  What's an answer to Initial Pleadings? So it's a follow
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  up to the episode today. Go on over to familawheadquarters
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  dot com and read this article for more information on
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  this topic. But let's go ahead and jump on in.
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  When a divorce or family law case begins, the reality
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  is one party has to start the cause of action
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  or start the litigation, and they do that by filing
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  a petition. Of course, with the petition, there can be
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  other documents that have to be filed as well, So
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  typically it's a petition, and some jurisdictions it could be
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  a motion, so it could be a petition for dissolution
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  of marriage, could be a paternity petition, could be an
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  adoption petition, It could be a motion to modify, could
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  be a motion for contempt, and of course there's various
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  other types of family law matters as well, But regardless,
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  one party has to begin the case by filing either
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  a petition or filing a motion of some kind. And
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  obviously how this takes place is going to vary based
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  on the jurisdiction a little bit. So definitely talk to
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  a lawyer who's license and practice incompetent to practice law
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  on your jurisdiction and they can give you more detail
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  on this. But generally, after this original petition emotion is filed,
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  the clerk will then attach a summons to the petition
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  or the motion. They'll give it to the lawyer who
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  filed the case, and then service has to be obtained,
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  all right. Service can be obtained through a sheriff or
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  a private process server sometimes known as a special process server,
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  and then this has to be served on the other party.
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  And for service to be obtained, we're typically talking about
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  personal service, where the petition or the motion is handed
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  to the other party, and obviously there can be some
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  nuances there. Sometimes it can be handed to an adult
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  member of the household who isn't the party. Again, this
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  is going to vary based on the jurisdiction you're in.
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  But once service is obtained, typically the clock begins ticking. Okay.
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  And in other words, there is a timeline for the
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  party who's been served to file an answer to the
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  petition or the motion. And the timeline can vary based
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  on the jurisdiction. Okay, it can be a little bit different.
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  In Missouri, where I have predominantly practiced throughout my career,
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  it's generally thirty days. So party has thirty days to
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  respond to what has been served upon them, and this
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  is called an answer. Right. So a party files an
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  answer to the petition or the motion that they've been
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  served with, Okay, and it's supposed to take place within
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  the time frame. Now, there could be the ability for
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  a party to request leave for additional time from the judge,
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  but for that to occur, it's typically pessed to request
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  that before the timeline expires. Okay. And so what a
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  party has been served a petition or emotion. The reality
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  is they need to act quickly to hire an attorney
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  and to make sure an answer is filed to what
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  was served upon them. Okay. And now look the nuances
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  of an answer. You know this is what attorneys go
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  to law school to learn. And this is the kind
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  of thing you know, attorneys learn about and legal research
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  and writing and maybe in trial practice and litigation courses
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  or whatnot. But what a party has to do in
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  an answer is respond to each paragraph of the petition
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  of motion. All right, so they either admit the allegation,
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  they either deny it, or they say they have insufficient
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  information to admit or deny the specific allegation. Okay, So
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  party's got to go through each paragraph and either admit, deny,
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  or say they have insufficient information to admit or deny
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  the allegation of that paragraph. And sometimes you can get
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  into some real nuance here where maybe part of a
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  paragraph a party can admit and then part of it
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  they deny, or part of a paragraph they admit and
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  part of it they just don't know they don't have
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  enough information to admit or deny the specific paragraph. And
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  then in addition to going through each paragraph, a party
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  can raise affirmative defenses and their answer And again this
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  is very much in the weeds, and this is very
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  much law school type stuff. This is why lawyers go
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  to law school for several years. But they can allege
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  things like latches, unclean hands, a stopp a waiver, and
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  other quitable defenses. And again generally these need to be
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  put in any answer and it needs to be filed
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  by the deadline. All right, So let's say a party
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  doesn't file an answer. What may happen. Well, Look, if
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  a party doesn't file an answer and they don't do
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  it within the deadline and theory, they could be held
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  in default. And if they're held in default, I mean
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  in essence, it's like forfeit in a sports game. It's
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  like you lose. So the other party can then file
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  a motion for default and try to get all the
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  relief that they requested, so they know if they want
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  a divorce or if they want paternity established, and they
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  want specific things in the divorce that the paternity case,
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  like custody orders or child support orders, or division of
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  property and debt and these things, and they typically get
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  what they want. And so look, the reality is for
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  individuals who've been served papers in a divorce of family
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  law matter, it is vital to get an attorney to
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  file an appropriate answer. Of course, in addition to an answer,
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  a party can file their own cross petition or counter
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  motion and request specific things themselves. But at the end
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  of the day, it's not a good thing to be
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  served papers and not file an answer, Okay. And so
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  the other thing I want to talk about is where
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  can a responding party go wrong when they've been served
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  paperwork and again, not file an answer within the timelines
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  is one way in which they can go wrong, right.
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  I mean, if a party doesn't respond at all, they
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  can be held in default. If they respond but they
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  don't do it in the proper format, then the answer
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  is really not appropriate. Right, It's not an appropriate answer
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  to the petition, so they could still be held in default. Again,
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  a party's got to respond and file that answer within
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  the time deadlines and the jurisdiction or they could be
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  held in default again. Judges can sometimes get parties extra
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  time to file an appropriate answer, but it's best to
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  do that before the deadline expires, versus waiting until after
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  and then hoping to get leave after the fact. So
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  look for individuals who've been served petitions or motions and
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  the divorce or family court, hire an attorney, get an attorney,
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  do it within the time deadlines, and make sure you
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  get that answer filed. Where a lot of parties go
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  wrong too, is just taking their time, letting the clock tick.
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  You know, they spend a lot of time trying to
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  figure out what to do, and then that deadline passes,
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  and based on their inaction, then they can ultimately be
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  held in contempt. So look for parties who've been served
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  divorce or family law petitions or motion. It is really
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  vital to hire an attorney. To hire an attorney right
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  away and make sure the appropriate response is filed and
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  know the answer is just one piece to it. Sometimes
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  parties have to file other things too, like proposed parenting
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  plans or proposed child support schedules, or financial statements or
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  other things based on the jurisdiction. So it's really important
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  to get in there and get an attorney. Now. I
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  know for some parties, maybe they didn't want the case,
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  they didn't want it to be filed, maybe they didn't
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  see it coming. They've been taken a little bit by surprise.
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  I hear that, and I understand it. But ultimately it
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  is really vital for a party to move quick and
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  not let that deadline pass. If that deadline passes again,
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  they can be in big trouble. And again, simply filing
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  some kind of answer that doesn't comply with the deadlines,
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  or it doesn't comply with the deadlines, doesn't comply with
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  the requirements. Oftentimes that has no real legal effect if
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  somebody tries to file something of their own volition without
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  hiring an attorney. So you know, this is where having
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  legal counsel who knows what they're doing, who's competent, license
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  to practice in your jurisdiction, and who focuses on family
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  law can be really really important. All right, So this
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  is the topic again, answers in family law matters. It's
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  definitely important. It's definitely something that a party wants to
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  do and not miss the deadlines, and they want to
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  make sure that they've done it right. Okay, very very important.
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  If not, a party can be held in default and
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  ultimately they can end up on the loose using side
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  of the case. It's just by not filing the right
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  paperwork within the time requirements that are set forth in
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  your jurisdiction. All right. So again, as a follow up
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  to the episode, today, going over to Familylawheadquarters dot com,
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  read the article titled once an answer to Initial Pleadings.
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  The data is November first, twenty twenty four, This will
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  give you more information on this topic. But thanks for
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  tuning in today. Stay tuned to our next episode of
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  Fable Law Talk coming up. Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Family Law Talk with Kirk Stangy.
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  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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