Has anyone done a Motion to Compel?

[Thunderstruck]

Our L is serving my DH's uBPDx with a Motion to Compel for discover and interrogatories that she still hasn't answered from last summer. Has anyone gone through this? Are there ever sanctions?

[Matt]

Our L is serving my DH's uBPDx with a Motion to Compel for discover and interrogatories that she still hasn't answered from last summer. Has anyone gone through this? Are there ever sanctions?

Didn't have to do it, but had to threaten to do it, to get my wife to turn over the information.  Then she still didn't turn it over, so we had to work around it.  No sanctions.

I would suggest discussing with your lawyer, and challenging her to ask the court for reasonable sanctions, to show you are serious, but from what I've heard it's not likely you will get them.  But if she continues to stonewall, the second or third time you ask for sanctions you might get them.

[Thunderstruck]

The L's motion this time doesn't specifically ask for sanctions. It states "and other relief as the court deems appropriate".

uBPDbm said she would hand over the documents last week. Still nothing so the hearing has been scheduled.

[Matt]

Be prepared to get the documents shortly before the scheduled hearing.  Maybe you can have a checklist prepared, to quickly check and see if you get everything you should.

And I wonder if you can go through with the hearing even if you get the documents at the last minute - ask the court to make her pay your legal fees.

[Waddams]

I had to do one in my original divorce from uPDxw.  She was refusing to comply with financial discovery and I could track $10k in missing money she transferred from the joint account before I closed it in the year leading up to the divorce.  It turned out it was all just spent frivolously, but 8 months after the initial interrogatories were issued, she still hadn't complied and was refusing to.

So I had my L send in the motion to compel.  I believe it was called a "Rule Nisi" which is a request for a hearing, and in the actual filing it stipulates the subject matter of the requested hearing.

After it was issued, we received some, but not all of the documents requested.  After a bit more communication via L's, we received the rest right before the hearing.  I found out later that uPDxw's L was going berserk because she wouldn't respond.  That L refused to take her on again in subsequent cases once the divorce was done.

[bravhart1]

Yes, three years and we have yet to see a single

Pay stubb or tax return.   :-(

We have asked at least once a year.

She will only respond saying "pay stubb is missing"

How about the dozen or more she had received since then?

They don't care. :-(

Good luck

[Nope]

Yes. It was irritating. But we at least had some leverage. The other side badly wanted DH's financials because his BPDex's L told her she would likely end up keeping custody and getting more CS. It also helped that when our L did our motion to compel it was because the magistrate had already ordered the parties to exchange financials in the pretrial hearing. So it was the magistrate's own order that would have been getting ignored. So eventually that got sorted out in a second pretrial meeting between the magistrate and both Ls.

But ultimately there were no consequences for the fact that the interrogatories were poorly and not completely answered. At least when the finding came out the magistrate pointed to a blatent lie in one of the answers we did get. So clearly the whole situation made some impact.

[ForeverDad]

This may suggest a tactic to maneuver leverage (more likely to work if the ex wants your disclosures)... .Have your lawyer reply, "My client has prepared the response to your interrogatories or financial requests.  I will hold them pending the EXCHANGE of our respective responses."  It puts the pressure back onto the other lawyer, as in, put up or shut up.  That said, it doesn't prevent the other side from replying with 'I don't know', 'I don't remember', 'I don't have it', 'not applicable', etc.

This speaks to our Nice Guy or Nice Gal normal sense that we must always 'comply' or face consequences.  In court there are often minimal consequences, if any, yet we feel so pressured to comply with every little detail.  I'm just saying that saying "we are ready to exchange data" shouldn't be viewed as a refusal to send or comply, though I'm not a lawyer of course.

Disclaimer:  During my divorce neither party requested interrogatories.  It was only when I was seeking custody a couple years later that her lawyer made the request.  I must admit my lawyer was not proactive.  I compiled the data and sent some 600+ pages.  Since her lawyer wasn't responding to our lawyer's calls, he sent out interrogatories to her lawyer.  We got nothing.  If my lawyer had sent a response, "We have the data you requested, let's set up the exchange" then at least I wouldn't feel it turned out so unfair.

[Thunderstruck]

Our Motion to Compel was granted. It states uBPDbm has 2 weeks to turn over her disclosure. (Deadline is tomorrow and we still haven't received anything). Then it states that reimbursement for L's fees was granted, however next to it was written "reserved". From what I understand, that means that the judge reserves the right to rule on her reimbursing lawyer fees until some later date, usually at the final hearing or just after?

[rarsweet]

If the other side does not comply with motion to compel, you can file for a conditional default, check out the avvo site, it's extremely helpful.

[Matt]

I think if she doesn't comply with the motion to compel, you can probably also ask to have her held in contempt.

Your case to get legal fees seems pretty strong.

[Nope]

Nobody ever gets anything until the very last minute. Even then, you have to go back to court to enforce it by telling the judge that the other party still hasn't complied. Then if the other party walks into court at that point with the information that was requested there won't be any consequences for not complying by the deadline unless the judge has reason to think the other party can afford to pay. It'll be interesting to see what happens next in your case.

[livednlearned]

Nobody ever gets anything until the very last minute. Even then, you have to go back to court to enforce it by telling the judge that the other party still hasn't complied. Then if the other party walks into court at that point with the information that was requested there won't be any consequences for not complying by the deadline unless the judge has reason to think the other party can afford to pay. It'll be interesting to see what happens next in your case.

This is exactly what happened in my case, over and over. You basically have to pay to enforce the judge's order. Including if that order says to pay your legal fees. Only when N/BPDx was in contempt of court 2x on the same issue did the judge summon the bailiff to handcuff N/BPDx, who eventually signed a check. The check went straight into an escrow account with my lawyer.

Also, legal feels (if you end up getting them awarded) does not mean ALL of the legal fees incurred for that motion. Only parts of it.

And in my state at least, you can't garnish wages for failure to pay legal fees.