Q: can I see some examples of: VERIFIED MOTION CONCERNING PARENTING TIME DISPUTES PURSUANT TO §14-10-129.5,
I'm preparing my motion Pro Se, and I feel my description of several pages is a bit long... I would like to know what I should cut out to get the motion read and accepted by the court.
A:
You should schedule some time at a free clinic for assistance or get advice directly from a specific attorney who can look at what you have written. Your request can't properly be answered in this forum.
In a very general sense, "several pages" probably is too long. You have leeway to take the space you need in order to express the nature of the problem to the court, and that certainly includes adding pages as needed. That said, being able to keep it concise is important too, lest you lose the Judge in the long description.
A good way to start is to sort out what terms of the parenting plan have been violated, then have a short paragraph about what the terms are and how they were violated. Then under that paragraph, have a list of dates, or to the extent that additional information is appropriate for each violation have a short statement. This or similar organization can help the Judge to keep track of the issues as well as shorten the length of the document. By way of example, if returning the child late is the violation, you can avoid having a detailed description of every instance the child was returned late by having a paragraph along the lines of: "Our parenting plan required that the child be returned [state the terms of where, when]. On multiple occasions, the Father has failed to return the child on time. On various occasions, Father has blamed [put in whatever reasons you have been given for him being late]. Specifically Father has failed to return the child on time on: [date] by [# of minutes], [date] by [# of minutes]" continuing as appropriate. None of this is magic language by any means, so don't feel you have to conform to this wording. This is merely an example to illustrate how one might follow this organizational suggestion. This is certainly not the only way to organize it either, so if you find a way you like better, feel free to use it.
Your motion should contain enough information for the Judge to understand what you are claiming as a violation. It does not, however, need to contain every detail. The finer points can be filled in at the hearing.
I hope this helps you to figure out how to tighten it up. Good luck.
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