Q: My wife was not allotted cross examination of her ex-husband after he spent the entire time examining her, normal?
My wife filed for a modification of child support back in July of this year. The first hearing, her ex husband was examining her and brought to the court's attention that she could be spending significant assets that were not reported on the forms required. So the judge stopped the hearing and ordered us both to swap all financial forms including complete tax returns, which I understand. We reconvened today and my wife's ex husband spent the whole allotted time examining her and the judge did not allow for an examination of the ex-husband due to time constraints. Is this normal for civil hearing to be this way? And is there anything we can do to keep this from becoming normal because it will be abused by him in the future.
A: In a family law case, both parties should be given approximately equal time to present their cases, both parties should be given a chance to testify, and both parties should be given a chance to cross examine the other party. What you have described is not normal and may constitute judicial error. You should set up a consultation session with a family law attorney to discuss the case in more detail and to assess what options you might have to deal with this.
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