Michigan Divorce Law - Court Hearings

Michael Idema Kent County Divorce Lawyer 30 Years Experience
Michigan Divorce Law - Court Hearings - Article by Michael Idema, Grand Rapids, Kent County Divorce Lawyer. Schedule a free initial office consultation: (616) 647-2200.

Michigan Divorce Law - Court Hearings - Going to Court in Grand Rapids

Each completed divorce case will involve at least one type of hearing, and may involve several types of hearings depending on the complexity of the case.

Divorce cases are within the jurisdiction of the Family Division of the Circuit Court. In Kent County, the Courthouse is located at 180 Ottawa Avenue N.W., Grand Rapids, MI 49503.

Rules for Your Court Appearance:

By appearance, I mean your trip to Court. The rules have to do with what to do at Court, including how to dress. Although the Court does not have a formal dress code, you should dress appropriately for your hearings. I recommend that you dress as if you were going to Church. Most persons going before the Court dress less formally in ordinary street clothes. Occasionally Judges have sent people out of their courtrooms who were dressed so informally as to be disrespectful to the Court. For example, don’t show up in cut-offs and a t-shirt. In most hearings, we are asking the Court to resolve some controversy between the parties, and the Judge may take how you dress as a statement of what kind of person you are. For example, if you are at Court to get a parenting time order, and you show up wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a big marijuana plant with the slogan “Party to Death, Dude”, the Judge will probably believe your spouse when she claims you are a dope addict who cannot be trusted with children. Men should remove their hats in the Courtroom. Do not bring food or beverages into the Courtroom or chew gum in Court. Turn your cell phone off. Unless your attorney tells you otherwise, do not bring the children with you to Court. The Judge will not usually allow your children in the Courtroom to hear your case argued. If your children are young and you did not bring someone to watch them, you will have to go into the hallway with them, missing your own hearing.

The Judge will be observing your behavior while you are in Court. Even if you are not on the witness stand, you will be making an impression on the Judge with your behavior, which could influence the Judge at that hearing or at a later hearing. If you are upset by what is being said during a motion or by a witness at trial, or by the Judge’s ruling, hold your feelings in until you get out of Court. Do not get into an argument with your spouse or raise your voice in the Courthouse.

There are rules for the orderly presentation of disputes to the Judge. The rules vary depending on the type of hearing you are attending. The rules include things like who's turn it is to speak and what kinds of evidence may be allowed. The goal at a hearing is to persuade the Judge to do something favorable for you. This involves the art of effective advocacy. You hire a lawyer to do this for you because you don't know the rules and you are not a trained advocate. You should defer to your attorney in court. Do not interrupt the attorneys or the Judge. Behavior which does not follow the rules and which is disrespectful of the Judge can be punished as contempt of court. Being held in contempt is definitely not a good way to persuade a Judge to do what you want.

The most common types of court proceedings which may require your presence at Court are:

Motion Hearings:

In Kent County motion hearings are scheduled on Friday mornings. Each Judge hears motions every other week. Most types of hearings which should not take much time for the Judge to decide are scheduled as motion hearings. A motion is a written and verbal argument made to the Judge by the attorneys based upon their clients’ representations of facts, usually with no testimony taken from the parties. This would include motions for temporary orders, motions to amend prior orders, motions to compel discovery, motions for orders to show cause, and so on. Each Judge may have thirty or more motion hearings scheduled on Friday morning. Some of these motions will be assigned for hearing before Referees. Most attorneys practicing family law will have multiple motions every Friday morning. This makes things pretty chaotic at Court, with attorneys looking for other attorneys, and attorneys going from courtroom to courtroom on different cases. Although your case may be called for hearing right away, you should plan to be at Court all morning. As a general rule, attorneys will meet before their motions are called to see if settlement is possible; only issues which cannot be resolved by settlement are actually argued to the Judge. I have my clients meet me before the hearing in the hallway outside the courtroom of their Judge. After meeting with me, the clients may then wait in the courtroom until the case is called. If the case is called when the attorney is not present, you do not need to do anything; the case will be called again when the attorney returns to the courtroom. When your attorney is there and the case is called, you stand next to your attorney in front of the Judge. The attorneys will tell the Judge why the parties are there, what the parties want, and why the attorneys feel their clients deserve what is being requested. The Judge or attorney may have some questions for you, but generally the Judge does not expect or wish to hear from the parties themselves. After the Judge hears the arguments, he or she will make rulings on the disputed issues.

Motion hearings can be very frustrating for the parties involved. First, Judges will only decide certain things by motion; often, the parties want everything to be decided and are not satisfied that some things do not get decided. Second, if the parties are telling the Judge opposite facts (for example, wife says husband is an alcoholic, husband denies it and says his wife uses drugs, wife denies it), the Judge has no way to know at that point in the case what the true facts are. An evidentiary hearing may be required later to sort out who is telling the truth. Nonetheless, a decision may need to be made by the Judge right then, and often the Justice handed out is very rough Justice indeed. Third, because the attorneys have little time to make their points, the Judge does not get the complete story of what is going on in the lives of the parties. Attorneys try to condense what might take a day of trial into a five minute argument. Often the parties feel that the most important things are being left out by the attorneys. However, with limited time, the attorneys must choose which facts the attorneys feel are the most important and most likely to persuade the Judge. Since the attorneys have the experience of many hearings and decisions by the Judges involved, you just have to trust your attorney and recognize that if the decision is bad you may get a chance later to try to correct the error.

I too get frustrated with the motion hearing procedure. It is generally a good idea to try to settle disputes instead of taking a chance on the Judge making a bad decision because the Judge had too few facts or a wrong impression of what the facts are.

Settlement pretrial conference:

If we are unable to settle the terms of the divorce informally, there will be a settlement pretrial conference. The parties are required to appear at Court for this. I will prepare a written brief for the Judge explaining the basic facts in the case, what my client wants in settlement, and why my client should receive what is being requested. Your spouses’ attorney will also prepare a brief. The attorneys go into the Judge’s office to discuss the case informally with the Judge. If the Judge offers any suggestions concerning settlement, these suggestions are conveyed to the parties by their attorneys. Independent of the Judge’s involvement, the attorneys often negotiate with each other without the Judge’s assistance. If the terms of the divorce are settled, we will go into the Courtroom, and tell the Judge “on the record” what the terms of the divorce will be. The Judge will confirm the settlement with each party, and then the Plaintiff will proceed with the pro con hearing.

Evidentiary hearing:

An evidentiary hearing is one in which one or more witnesses testify under oath, and in which other evidence may be presented to the Judge. The rules of evidence apply. A trial is an evidentiary hearing at the end of the case to determine the terms of the divorce if a settlement was not reached. The primary purpose of an evidentiary hearing is to allow the Judge to try to sort out factual disputes. In addition to trial, evidentiary hearings may be required to resolve other factual disputes, including custody, parenting time, support, or contempt of court. Trials are held before the Judge; other types of evidentiary hearings may be held before either the Judge or a Referee. If there is an evidentiary hearing in your case, you will probably need to testify as a witness. I will go over your testimony and the other evidence before the hearing to prepare you for that hearing.

Pro con hearing:

In every completed divorce case, a party (usually the Plaintiff) must briefly testify in order to establish that the party is entitled to a divorce under the Michigan no fault divorce statute. In a simple divorce case this may be the only hearing held. If the case is settled informally, the pro con hearing is set in Kent County for Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, or Wednesday morning. I usually schedule my pro con hearings for Thursday afternoons. If settled at the pretrial conference, the testimony is usually presented after the settlement has been placed on the record. If a trial is held, the proofs are taken as part of the trial testimony. Before the pro con hearing, I will go over with you the testimony which will be required so that you will know what to expect when you need to testify. If the case has been settled informally, the Defendant will not ordinarily have to go to Court for the pro con hearing.

Free Initial Consultation

Need an lawyer for a hearing? Schedule a free initial office consultation with Michael Idema. (616) 647-2200.

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Michael Idema

Divorce Lawyer

6410-A Alpine Ave NW

Comstock Park, MI 49321

(Between 7 & 8 Mile Roads)

mike@michaelidema.com

(616) 647-2200

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