Outline of a Maryland Divorce Case
All cases start with the formal document called a complaint. A complaint alleges facts that justify relief from the court. The person filing the complaint is called the plaintiff. The other person is the defendant. You must serve the defendant with a copy of the complaint and summons. A summons is official notification by the court that you have been sued.
The defendant has 30 days to file an answer to the complaint. During this time the defendant can file a counter-complaint against the plaintiff seeking relief of their own.
Most often a complaint or counter-complaint will ask for some type of temporary relief. This is called pendente lite relief. This temporary relief could apply to custody, support, visitation, or alimony.
Discovery is that part of the litigation in which the other side is allowed to obtain information about your case and vice versa. Discovery can take five different formats.
Interrogatories are written questions directed to a party that must be answered under oath and in writing. Interrogatories are limited to parties. You cannot ask more than 30 interrogatories with- out permission of the court. During the course of the litigation answers to interrogatories have to be supplemented if there is new, different or additional information.
A request for production of documents is a written request to the other party to produce documents for inspection and copying. Unlike interrogatories, there is no limit to the number of documents requested, or the number of requests that can be made. Requests for production of documents are similar to interrogatories in that the document production has to be updated as additional documents are obtained.
A deposition is a process whereby an individual is examined orally under oath. The questions and answers are recorded. All parties and counsel are permitted to be present during a deposition and counsel for both parties is allowed to ask questions. Unlike interrogatories, a deposition is not limited to parties and does not have to be updated.
A request for admission of facts and genuineness of documents asks that the party to whom the request is directed admit or deny the truth of relevant matters or that certain documents are accurate.
A request for a mental or physical examination of a party asks the court to order that a party submit to a mental or physical examination. In the context of a child custody case, a party will often ask that an independent psychologist be appointed in order to examine both parties and the minor children in order to give a recommendation on custody to the court.
At the final hearing, testimony is taken under oath. Each attorney has the ability to call witnesses on behalf of their client. This is known as direct examination. After the attorney is done questioning the witness the opposing counsel will have the opportunity to cross-examine the witness. If, after cross examination, the attorney who originally called the witness feels that some answers have to be clarified it then he can answer questions on redirect examination. Each attorney is given the opportunity to make opening remarks and closing argument.
