Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
What are the limits on Discovery Motion
I recently lost my job and filed a motion to change monthly child support based on significant change in circumstances. My former spouse beleives I received severance from from my employer and had requested discovery through the States Attorney Child Support Enforcement unit. There is no severance payment to declare, and the scope of the discovery request delivered to me includes exhaustive disclosure of unrelated financial records including personal expenditures, mortgage arrangements and information from employers prior to my most recent. 1) Does my former spouse have an obligation to prove existence of a severance payment prior to discovery or is her simple belief that I received a payment all that is required? 2) Is there justification for discovery pertaining to documents unrelated to my last employer? 3) If the anser to questions 1 or 2 are no, how do I legally refuse response to the discovery request without being in contemp of a court order?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: What are the limits on Discovery Motion
From your posting I don't think there's anything inappropriate about the discovery request. Discovery by law has a very broad scope it's essentially whether the request might lead to anything that's relevant. You don't need to go overboard...if you don't have some of the things they're requesting just say so.
It's your petition...you need to prove that you've lost a job or whatever the "substantial change of circumstances" are that require a court to change your child support obligation. Also, note that your job loss must be "involuntary"...if you quit a job voluntarily you're likely not entitled to a child support change.
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