NSW Family Law - Opening Statements in Trial Hearing?

[Patricia Wright]

My husband has court coming up and is self-representing. The other party is yet to submit trial affidavits and case outline. What sort of things does he say in his opening statement in regards to lack of care from other party under family law?

 

[thatbloke]

What exactly do you mean by "lack of care from other party under family law" Opening addresses are stopped in their tracks if people waffle on about stuff that is meant for hearing. In fact, the opening address might well be him answering questions from the judge rather than being a grandstand to make a speech a la TV shows.

If he wants to go to town.. that is what the closing address is for, and only then if it is spoken about in relation to the sections of the family law act that are relevant to the case

 

[Patricia Wright]

Lack of care being that the other party is yet to submit trial affadavits or case outline.

So a closing statement would be where he would address the other party in regards to attempting to delay this process by not submitting documents etc?

 

[thatbloke]

Lack of care being that the other party is yet to submit trial affadavits or case outline.

So a closing statement would be where he would address the other party in regards to attempting to delay this process by not submitting documents etc?

Ok.. in a word NO. You will be wasting not only your time, and will probably lose your case. You will also be wasting the courts valuable time, time in which you can be applying your argument to the sections of the act that is relevant. That is what a closing argument is all about. (and your case outline which can sort of be an argument by proxy)

People file late, Lawyers, Barristers, Self representers, pink cats from venus. It is more common to file late than to file on time. Nothing ever happens, no one get is trouble barring a stern word (possibly) and generally and no case has ever been win on a late filing argument.

Is there an order that gives you leave to respond to a final affidavit? If so, then you simply file that late. If not.. who really cares when they file. By now you should know the argument and be preparing yourself (well hubby) rather than worrying about what others are not doing. That would be a much more productive way of spending a build up to a hearing

As for case outlines. YOUR case outline is important, theirs is only a summary of their argument, which you really should know by now anyway

 

[Patricia Wright]

Don’t we need their affadavit though to cross examine the other party?

 

[Rod]

Yes. You either allow trial/hearing to go ahead and they have no evidence or seek a delay till it arrives.

 

[thatbloke]

Don’t we need their affidavit though to cross examine the other party?

Yes you do (but see below) and you will get it but, and this is something not a lot of people know a LOT of what you question on is on what is said on the day and how they answer their own counsels questions.

Please do not make the mistake of preparing reams of questions based solely on an affidavit, you will be surprised on how much you prepare is not asked because of what is said on the day/days. You would be much better off preparing to box the ex into a corner with YOUR material to negate their material so they end up in chains in that corner with the only way of escaping is to agree with what you have said or written. Getting them to agree to what you are saying is much more powerful than negating what they have written repeatedly because, if they agree with your argument, then their argument is dead in the water anyway yes?

Another thing to remember is you do not need to negate every single little thing or win every point (really important) . Imagine his ex is in court with a suit of armour on, you do not need to destroy the whole suit to make a fatal blow, you only need a couple of pieces to fail to be able to cause fatal damage.

This is what court is like. If you plant the seeds of doubt in the judges mind that SOME of the exes stuff is not credible or reasonable , that logically leads to the conclusion that other stuff might not well be credible or reasonable.

This is what you want to do.. cast doubt in the judges mind as to her credibility or reasonableness by denting parts of her credibility and reasoning, you dont need the whole thing. If you add this to the boxing into a corner scenario, it is even more powerful. YOUR argument negates HER argument not just discrediting an affidavit because that is not the whole argument, as you will find out, during the hearing.

It is a very tricky game (really really hard) , it is like a game of uber chess you play against a computer blindfolded, you dont know what is going to happen or what you need to ask but you also do!

It is also bloody hard work, cross referencing what is said on the day to what has been written to form a question that will back up your argument by negating what is said by the other party or discrediting it totally. That is the name of the game your hubby is about to play

If that is not confusing enough you have to do all this on the spot, whilst writing and thinking on your feet.

Do not underestimate the need to have someone taking notes from the public gallery AS WELL AS your hubby frantically writing what is said down and then questions at the same time that link to the affidavit and what has just been said

Hope i have not scared you but the way to prepare is not stressing on when and how they file. and I hope this all makes sense .

 

[Patricia Wright]

@thatbloke thank you so much for all that information it has been very helpful. I have been trying to tell him not to worry about when they file etc because we have a good argument and to focus on exactly what you have said.
It is scary self repping but I have full faith in hubby and am sure he will do a good job.
Thanks again