In litigation, discovery is the process whereby parties obtain information about each other. Discovery formally ends thirty days before the first day that a trial is initially set. After a judgment for divorce is entered, the only way to reopen discovery is to file a request for order. After a request for order is filed, discovery is reopened but only as to those issues addressed in the request for order. In other words, if a post judgment request for order requests a modification of custody, discovery in respect to retirement accounts is unavailable.
Family Code section 218 states,
“With respect to the ability to conduct formal discovery in family law proceedings, when a request for order or other motion is filed and served after entry of judgment, discovery shall automatically reopen as to the issues raised in the postjudgment pleadings currently before the court. The date initially set for trial of the action specified in subdivision (a) of Section 2024.020 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall mean the date the postjudgment proceeding is set for hearing on the motion or any continuance thereof, or evidentiary trial, whichever is later.
If you need a divorce lawyer in the Orange County area to discuss a family law matter such as modification of custody or any other dissolution issue such as child support, spousal support, transmutation or property division, contact Treviño Law, Inc. Conveniently located off of the 5 and 405 freeway at Lake Forest.
Although the posting of this information can be considered free legal advice for an Orange County divorce, it does not guarantee a result. There may be other circumstances that play a significant role in any dissolution which may alter the outcome of a divorce. A divorce lawyer will be knowledgeable about the significance of facts. Those factors should be reviewed and argued by a family law attorney in Orange County.
Please note that this legal advice does not establish a family law attorney-client relationship. This is a legal advertisement for Treviño Law, Inc, an Orange County family law firm.
