You’re probably going to have more than one witness who could come to court & testify on your behalf but just because you have one witness or ten witnesses doesn't mean that all of those witnesses need to testify. You have to talk to the people who could potentially have something to say on your behalf & figure out whether they’d really be a good witness.
One of the things you should base your decision on is the credibility of witnesses. Although witness may have something good to say about you, that person may be terrible on the stand. They may be nervous or clam up. You have to figure that in deciding how to present the best case you can to the judge.
I just had an experience recently & it was in a different type of case. It was a criminal case & many moons ago I practiced criminal law. I was a prosecutor for a few years & after I quit the prosecutor's office I went on ended criminal defense work & I defended all types of cases from speeding...
I just finished a case last Friday that had been going on about a year. We thought we would be able to settle the case because the right outcome seemed fairly obvious to my client & myself. Unfortunately it was not that obvious to the other side so we had to go through years worth of litigation, court appearances, attorneys fees & lots of headache for my client.
My client was under a lot of stress but persevered & in the months before our trial setting we finally figured out that there was no way the other side was going to compromise. So we started to hit the discovery hard. I took the other party's deposition & it was quite lengthy & I didn't go in unprepared & was very strategic with the questions that I asked & the information that I wanted to know.
One of my goals during every deposition is to get a better understanding of what the other side is going to say during the custody trial & lock them in to their answers. That way it makes it...
In todays video I’m going to talk about how to prevent the judge in your custody or family law case from getting really angry at you. Or if the judge is on your side, how to make sure you keep him or her on your side.
The main thing you can do this is to be reasonable in what you are asking for. Deciding what is reasonable is, I know, sometimes hard to gauge because this is your life, this is your children, etc.
When you're really biased it's hard to see the other side it's hard to see the other side as being reasonable but to the best of your ability when you're going through a case when it comes to whatever request that you're making or whatever position you're taking
I think that you should always put your self in the position of the judge. The judge is ultimately is the most important person in your case.
I recently had a couple of different cases where a judge thought that my clients positions are unreasonable and in one case my client didn't see where his position was...
In this video I talk about my experience with my daughter's bout with hand, foot & mouth disease how it relates to preparing for your family law case.
I recently had a very exhausting weekend. As you some of you may know from my videos, I have a 5-year old daughter. Well one night she could not sleep so I stayed up with her all night. The next day when her father picked her up from school she was crying.
That night she still could not sleep and was complaining of her feet itching. I tried everything to relieve her pain, cold rags, hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl…but to no avail.
I started looking on the internet and could not find anything. She then developed sores on the palms of her hands and sores by her mouth.
I did more research and found out that she had what is called Foot, Hand, Mouth disease which is common in preschoolers. I found out it is not a serious disease but it is very viral. It has to run it’s course, the sores need to heal and...
In every state family law courts have a strict set of "rules," which describe the procedure courts follow in a family law cases. If these rules are broken there can be serious consequences.
These rules govern things like the types and content of documents that can (or must) be filed, the various deadlines that attorneys (and self-represented litigants!) must comply with, etc.
If you or your attorney do not adhere by these rules you could suffer some really serious consequences for both yourself and your family for the rest of your life.
I had a case recently where the attorney did not follow the rules and it caused her client to suffer some serious consequences in her case. We were litigating a really hotly contested divorce case that had been going on for about a year. Some of the issues in dispute were child custody, division of property, parenting time and child support. However, but the biggest bone of contention was spousal maintenance and attorney’s fees.
I represented...
There are actions you can take now to increase your chances of success in your family court hearing.
Hi I'm Wendy Hernandez and in this video I’m going to give you a few real world examples of ways to increase your chances of success in your divorce or custody case:
Let’s say your ex-spouse is alleging that you have mental health issues or a mental health issue and you are denying it. One thing you can do to squash that accusation or allegation is go out and get a psychiatric evaluation. These evaluations do come at a cost however you could save money from the get go instead of having to fight this custody or divorce battle for months.
Now it may be that you do have some type of mental health condition but there is no shame in that. In that case you would show the other party what the condition was and what kind of treatment you are receiving and that you are complying with a course of treatment the doctor has prescribed for you.
By going above and beyond you are...
If you are in a child custody battle and domestic violence is an issue, these are 4 ways to prepare for your child custody hearing without an attorney or lawyer.
Domestic violence is something a judge takes very seriously in child custody cases, thus it is crucial that you are ready to answer these 4 questions for the judge before your court date.
Winning child custody when domestic violence is taking place is crucial to both the parent who is receiving the violence and in of course, the best interest of the child.
Here are 4 things that you should ask yourself and if you find your answers prove domestic violence the court needs to know when you attend your hearing.
1. Did the child ever witness the domestic violence?
2. Can you provide documentation of the abuse?
It is very important to provide any documents you can to the judge.
Examples of documents could include police reports, restraining orders, and court papers if there was a conviction for domestic violence
3. How has the...
The thought of appearing at your custody court hearing can be terrifying when so much is on the line.
It has everything to do with the amount and quality of information you provide to the judge in your custody case. If you go into the courtroom terrified, unprepared, lack of confidence or on the defensive you will not be able to give the judge what he or she needs to hear to make the best decision for your child.
So the question is How do you go into the courtroom confident?
The most important thing you need to frame the case in the way that YOU think is best. You frame the arguments, don’t let the other side frame the arguments
How do I frame the case? This is what I do as a child custody attorney in preparing for trial. Early in the case I will decide which of the best interests factors apply to my client’s situation.
In most cases there will be overall about 7- 12 best interests factors that will apply in your case. Out of those there will be about 3 -5 that on your...