Discovery vs trial vs settlement conference. Question?

Mobile_Scientist_719 · 2024-05-29T17:58:51+00:00

Her attorney is asking for documents? I'm in CA. The courts dictate what documents are exchanged. The big one is the schedule of assets and debts which can be hundreds of pages. This document is signed under threat of perjury but isn't actually filed. I remember only having to provide two months of statements except for deferred comp savings that had non-community contributions ... i.e. I started them before marrying her. Then I had to go way back in history.

Speediness is controlled by the less cooperative spouse from what I've seen. I believe it's fairly trivial to postpone conferences here. Either party can claim readiness issues. Try googling average length of divorce in your state. This is the bar. Add months, possibly years, for complexity.

No_Pace2396 · 2024-05-29T07:22:17+00:00

Do a shitty job providing what they ask for. I was thorough, gave exactly and all they requested, turns out I was just hand feeding them. Her discovery response was a joke, completely useless piles of garbage, but their counter is "well, what you asked for is somewhere in there." I spent a ton of time on mine, now I'll spend a ton of time and billable hours sorting through the spam she sent if I'm going to get anything out of it.

I also tried asking for mediation instead of going through discovery, then asked again for mediation instead of submitting my own discovery. In mediation she underreported her retirement and didn't report several accounts. It was all a ruse to grab what she could, and in the process I missed out on the benefit of expanded discovery to fill in the blanks from her crap first response. None of this was necessary: we were open about our finances until the divorce, and we knew what our assetts were. Through the initial filings and 2 financial hearings so far she just didn't report accounts I knew she had. I'm guessing the judge is going to give her a mulligan on all those, because it's hard being a mom boss, raising a child with a deadbeat father who was the one who filed for divorce, and oopsies are made. But they've come after me for statements from a bitcoing account with about $30 in it.

Dump a bunch of shit together that just barely answers her discovery request and make a counter request. If she is asking for something she has equal access to, that's your response. Don't spend all summer on it. Spend the time with your kids.

upvotersfortruth · 2024-05-29T06:22:02+00:00

Do you have a lawyer? If not, this may be a bit of help.

There are a few issues when it comes to discovery and settlement in divorces. Strategically and tactically, begging for a settlement conference to avoid the legwork of putting together discovery responses is not effective. Begging for a settlement conference because you want to "stop the pain" or get it over with quickly is also not effective.

Similarly, making a "reasonable" or extremely fair or even generous settlement offer - is a major misstep many men make. Divorce is essentially a zero sum game meaning all negotiations are positional, not interest based. Starting high or starting in the middle, means they'll counter higher and you'll lose out.

From the legal perspective, some discovery is usually necessary for two reasons: (1) things like financial statements are probably mandatory even if the parties want to settle from day 1; and (2) before a (good) lawyer can recommend their client settle for a certain amount or under certain terms, they need to show they've done enough homework to recommend settlement -or- have their client provide a written waiver that the client is acting against the advice of the lawyer in proceeding with the settlement (relatively rare).

As for pushing for trial, need more information about what's going on to provide my thoughts.

EnvironmentalAd3558 · 2024-05-29T05:18:31+00:00

Ask it to be set for trial at the earliest possible date. There is usually a significant time period between the request and the date set. A looming trial date is a good incentive for settlement. Delay just costs the parties more in legal costs and emotional frustration.

Title	Discovery vs trial vs settlement conference. Question?
Author	No-Profit-1027
Upvotes	4
Comments	8
Date	May 29, 2024 2:11 AM UTC (2 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/1d318ok/discovery_vs_trial_vs_settlement_conference/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/discovery-vs-trial-vs-settlement-conference.1519882 https://theredarchive.com/post/1519882

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