Common reasons for delays in Oklahoma family law cases: noncompliance with discovery, failure to complete preliminary steps.
What Are the Common Reasons for Delays in Oklahoma Family Law Cases?
Why is my case taking so long to resolve? My name is Brian L. Jackson. I am a Tulsa father’s rights attorney here with Dads.Law. Our fathers are not disposable. And today we’re going to talk about why your case is taking so long. And I’m going to go over some things that tend to make cases get hung up and also some of the practical realities of litigating a case in Tulsa County.
As a preliminary matter, you should be aware, Tulsa County, if your case is based in this county, you are sitting in the second busiest district court district in the entire state. The only one that’s busier than we are is Oklahoma City. And there are thousands of cases that pass through the family court system on a monthly basis. So what you’re looking at is realistically a situation where there’s just a very large demand for judges’ time. So that’s the first thing.
But as a practical matter, there are also things that happen in cases that tend to make them get delayed further simply because things aren’t done timely. One of the two most common things I see in terms of reasons why cases get delayed are noncompliance with discovery and not taking care of court-required preliminary steps to get in for a hearing. So discovery is a big one. What discovery basically is, you are going to, in most family law cases, get a packet of written requests, including questions, including things to admit or deny, including requests for documentation that you are legally required to answer that comes from the other side. So that’s discovery.
Even if there’s no discovery done, you are also required to, at a bare minimum under local rule, you have to provide proof of your income to the other side. And noncompliance with discovery, noncompliance with that rule, will bring your case to a dead standstill. Other things I see that make cases stall out, people don’t do what their preliminary steps to get to a hearing. For example, one of the things you have to do is you have to go to a, there’s a type of settlement conference they do in Tulsa County called the Planned Parenting Conference. You are required to go to the Planned Parenting Conference if you want your case to move. If you don’t go to the Planned Parenting Conference, you will not be allowed to have a temporary order hearing. And if you don’t go, you risk getting defaulted if the other side shows up and you’ve been properly served or you were the one that filed it and you’re not there, you can be defaulted on a temporary order. So things like that.
How to Avoid Delays in Your Case
Things like not watching Planned Parenting Conference videos and signing your attestation that you did so. Not doing your court ordered classes which are helping children cope with divorce or co-parenting for resilience. If you don’t do those things, again, it can stall out your case. Not cooperating with mediation, most family law cases in Tulsa County, you will be required to do mediation. It may or may not result in a settlement, but it is required. If you don’t cooperate, again, it’ll stall your case out. If the court appoints a specialist, like for example, a guardian ad litem, and you’re ordered to pay part of that fee, you need to pay it or again, your case is going to stall out. It’s going to mean that you can’t do anything.
So things like that are reasons why your case might get stalled out. Also, if your attorney asks you for certain documentation or information and you don’t provide it, that can stall your case out. Many of these causes, many of these things that make the case get delayed are things that can be avoided. Just you have to do your part. I know a lot of guys are really touchy about some of this stuff, particularly when it comes to the finances because they feel like all that’s happening is that the baby mom is trying to get in their pocket. I understand why you would feel that way, but you should understand that it is court required. And if you don’t do it, then you are going to find that you can’t move your case forward. So please, for your own good, take care of those things.
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If you have any questions about that, I would encourage you to go to dads.law where fathers are not disposable and we’ll help you out.
