The Court Process in a Nutshell
People ask the question, “What is the court process like?” for one of three reasons. The First is that they have never gone to court before and would like an idea of what it is like. The second is that they have been to court and they want to know what processes have changed. The third is that they are just quizzing me to see if I know my stuff, (and yes, I do know my stuff.)
Today I’m going to share what a court process is like in a nutshell aka just the basics to help answer this question:
“What is the court process like?”
The first thing we do together is issue an application.
Secondly, we serve it to the other person/party.
From there, we give them time to respond.
Once they have responded, we schedule a case conference. Think of it like a meeting with us, the other person/party and the judge. Usually what happens in this meeting is that we try to reach an agreement without getting too into it aka covering too many details.
The next step is a settlement conference which is not dissimilar from the case conference but is geared more towards reaching a settlement, (see why we called it that?) This conversation is more about how to resolve the case, but if a resolution can not be found…
We move to a trial scheduling conference. By this time we are not looking at how to resolve the case, we are looking at what a trial would look like. (Ex: How many days will your trial be? Who will your witnesses be?)
From there, we schedule and show up for the trial in person or virtually. This is where you will get someone making a final decision. Disclaimer: This example of the court process does exclude motions and other details about the actual trial itself because each case is different and that would make for a very, very long blog post.
FYI: a Motion is when you have an issue that you need a judge to decide on that will not be a final matter. (Ex: vacation time with kids, spousal support, stuff like that.)
I hope this helps give you a better understanding of what the court process is like in a nutshell. If you are looking for legal support and guidance, contact us HERE. We would be happy to help. Lauren M. Angle B.A. (Hons.) J.D. Angle Law #court #courtprocess