Legal Question in Family Law in Kansas

swaying a judges opinion in court proceedings

is it legal to try to write a judge in a court matter and ask him to intervene on an interested partys behalf? or ask the judge to subpoeana documents to try and get him or her to take sides


Asked on 9/30/07, 12:49 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Rian Ankerholz Ankerholz and Smith

Re: swaying a judges opinion in court proceedings

No. such contact is not allowed. Non-party third person contact must be done by amicus curiae brief. According to Wikipedia, Amicus curiae (plural amici curiae) is a legal Latin phrase, literally translated as "friend of the court", that refers to someone, not a party to a case, who volunteers to offer information on a point of law or some other aspect of the case to assist the court in deciding a matter before it. The information may be a legal opinion in the form of a brief - testimony that has not been solicited by any of the parties - or a learned treatise on a matter that bears on the case. The decision whether to admit the information lies with the discretion of the court.

In child custody cases, non-party information is sometimes obtained by a child custody investigator who contacts third parties or references supplied by the parties.

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Answered on 9/30/07, 12:22 pm


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