Legal Question in Family Law in New York
My spouse and I just had our second compliance conference yesterday, to no real purpose. Instead of discussing the exchange of Discovery, etc., the judge only wanted to hear about compliance with a medical insurance order, and then referred our case to a court appointed referee for almost six months from now. Yet from everything I know about New York divorces, the compliance conference is supposed to be where the judge asks the parties to exchange necessary Discovery items. In our case the judge hasn't asked a word about the exchange of the documents she ordered, our real estate still has not been appraised, and she did not ask either of us about whether or not we were satisfied as far as Discovery went, which I thought was the necessary precursor to the court directing the plaintiff to file for a certificate of readiness and then scheduling a trial date. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the referral to a court appointed referee to hear the issues of equitable distribution and other ancillary issues the beginning of the trial stage? I just don't understand how the judge can make decisions without appraising our real estate, etc.
My questions are: are the note of issue and certificate of readiness NOT required? Does the judge NOT have to make sure the parties are satisfied with the exchange of Discovery prior to sending the case to a court appointed referee? Is sending the case to a court appointed referee not the start of the Trial process, but just a continuation of Discovery? Why hasn't the judge followed up on the appraisal of our real estate despite ordering that it be appraised in our Preliminary Conference Order?
2 Answers from Attorneys
You're discovering the perils of litigating pro se in the New York courts. With the layoffs that have decimated court staffs the judges and the remaining staff don't have that much time available to deal with these issues, and won't raise them unless the parties indicate there's a problem.
Whether you're sent to a referee or not is up to the judge - but the referees have been cut back severely too.
You're discovering the perils of litigating pro se in the New York courts. With the layoffs that have decimated court staffs the judges and the remaining staff don't have that much time available to deal with these issues, and won't raise them unless the parties indicate there's a problem.
Whether you're sent to a referee or not is up to the judge - but the referees have been cut back severely too.
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