Stockton, CA asked in Divorce for California

Q: Before my settlement conference in 8 weeks, can I submit a letter to the judge disclosing several undisclosed issue's?

I have had to represent myself and so I have not known when or how to be heard by the judge regarding several issues and wanted to know if I could draft a letter with my concerns before the conference?

issues are:

Assests (all household items) and resources(credit,car,loans) kept from me.

Court ordered to carry medical insurance but didn't

Undisclosed income

removed from all joint accounts

Filed taxes as single HOH and claimed our children on his taxes

This is just a nutshell of the issue's so how can I make the judge awear of his actions?

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1 Lawyer Answer
Andy Chen
Andy Chen
Answered
  • Modesto, CA
  • Licensed in California

A: A lot of self-represented people think writing a letter to the judge will work. In my experience, very, very, very few judges will bother to read this. This can qualify as an ex-parte communication too so judges, by law, cannot read letters only one side writes to them.

What you want to do instead is get back on the status conference calendar in this judge's courtroom and bring these issues up. It sounds like there might be a lot of issues unresolved, some of them (e.g. removed from joint accounts) that are fairly serious. The judge will most likely set a longer hearing because status conferences are usually fairly short (e.g.5 minutes per case). The precise method by which you get back on the status conference calendar varies by county and judge. Some make it easy, while others make it very difficult.

I would start by asking the clerk in the filing room (not the courtroom) how to get back on your judge's calendar. If you can afford it, I would recommend hiring a lawyer just for this bit of the case. Pro per people often know that a particular problem exists in their case, but they often have a lot of trouble communicating that to the judge.

Andy

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