A continuance is a rescheduling of your divorce trial or hearing to a later date. If you have been served divorce paperwork, it is incredibly important that you respond to the paperwork by the deadline or deadlines you have been given (even if you got the paperwork with very short notice). If you have received a summons to attend a trial or hearing, it is important that you appear for all trial or hearing dates—or request a continuance (by asking the court to reschedule your hearing or court date).
Sometimes divorce paperwork comes along with other motions and other deadlines. Common motions include a Motion for Temporary Family Law Orders or Immediate Restraining Orders. The deadlines for these motions and hearing dates may be different from the date by which you have to respond to the divorce paperwork.
- In most instances, you have 20 days from the date you receive your divorce paperwork to file and serve your response. A divorce lawyer can help you with this process, or take steps to help you get more time, if needed.
- If there are other motions like Temporary Family Law Orders or Immediate Restraining Orders, you may have a matter of days to respond or attend a hearing.
If you fail to respond in time, or fail to appear at the hearing or trial, the spouse who filed the divorce paperwork might automatically get everything they want as described in the paperwork—from division of property to custody. If you fail to respond to or attend hearings for Temporary Family Law Orders or Immediate Restraining Orders, requests for temporary custody may be granted, and in some cases, you might be asked to leave the family home.
You’ll find specific deadlines by which you must respond to divorce paperwork and divorce hearings in the summons section of your divorce paperwork.
If you have received divorce paperwork, or just received a Motion for Temporary Family Law Orders, it is important that you speak to a divorce lawyer as soon as possible or reach out for legal assistance. Any formal response you make to the initial divorce paperwork can have an impact on your divorce case and settlement.
For example, if you fail to request a continuance, you could miss out on precious time to draft a response or prepare for trial. Responding to divorce paperwork when the state of Washington doesn’t have jurisdiction over your divorce could lock you into a certain jurisdiction. Asking for a continuance or contesting jurisdiction can be a very involved process, which can be facilitated with the help of a divorce lawyer.
Certain situations can change these timelines or even the jurisdiction where you divorce case can be filed. For example, if you are in the military, or if your spouse is in the military, you might have additional rights to delay legal proceedings, to request a continuance, or to contest jurisdiction over your divorce.
Before responding to divorce paperwork, you might want to speak to a military divorce lawyer or your Judge Advocate General (JAG). If you want to dispute jurisdiction or delay proceedings, this will likely need to be your first response to receiving divorce paperwork, otherwise, the case might proceed on the times and dates listed in your summons.
Continuances
If a hearing or trial has been scheduled and you need additional time, you can file a Notice of Appearance and request a continuance. Even if you received a notice of appearance for your divorce case with only days to respond (in some cases this means you didn’t receive sufficient notice of the hearing or trial), you should still go to your hearing, and request a continuance, explaining to the judge that you didn’t receive sufficient time to respond.
You should never ignore any hearing or deadline for responding to divorce paperwork.
A lawyer can help you understand what your spouse is asking for in the divorce paperwork regarding property division and custody, and help you make sense of more complicated issues regarding jurisdiction and timelines. Because the things you agree to in your divorce paperwork can impact your financial life and custody for years to come—and because divorce settlements are final, and custody agreements are difficult to change—it is very important that you get clear about what you are agreeing to in your divorce settlement.
A divorce lawyer can review the divorce paperwork you have received, help you understand your rights, and write a response before the deadlines, or help you request a continuance.
If you have received divorce paperwork or summons and haven’t had time to speak to a lawyer yet, you may need to request a continuance yourself. In this article, we’ll explore how you can do this in the state of Washington.
There are many valid reasons why a person might want to reschedule a divorce hearing or trial (seek a continuance).
Some common reasons include:
You need time to get a lawyer
It can take time to find a lawyer you trust and schedule appointments. Some people might want to interview a few attorneys before they choose a divorce lawyer they want to work with, and some of the best attorneys will likely have full schedules and scheduling appointments can take time.
If you were served divorce paperwork and it came as a total surprise, you may not have had sufficient time to make an appointment with a lawyer and get legal advice before your divorce hearing, or before you need to respond to paperwork. And even if you knew that your partner was filing, it can sometimes take some time to find a divorce lawyer to work with and coordinate schedules to draft a response. When seeking a continuance because you need time to seek additional legal advice, it can be helpful to have an appointment with your lawyer scheduled.
You want to work out your divorce outside of court
If you or your partner filed for divorce, but you now have decided to use the collaborative divorce process or mediation to settle your divorce outside of court, you may also want to request a continuance to give you and your partner and your lawyers or mediator time to negotiate your divorce settlement. Your lawyer can also help you with the process of requesting a continuance, or rescheduling your court hearing, if this is the situation.
You weren’t served notice of the divorce hearing with sufficient time to prepare
If you were served paperwork late, you may have the right to request a continuance. If this is the case, you may still need to go to your hearing to explain the situation to the court. Never ignore a summons or the deadlines you see in paperwork you receive.
Disability
Individuals with disabilities or those who need additional help with writing, reading, or understanding court paperwork can request a continuance.
You speak a language other than English
If English is not your first language, you have the right to ask for more time to seek the help of an interpreter to translate court papers.
Issues with Discovery
If you and your partner plan to fight your divorce case in court, and even if you ultimately plan to negotiate your divorce outside of court, it can take some time to get your evidence together. For example, if your partner is making claims about your parenting to win a custody case, you might need time to get evidence from school officials, counselors, or other witnesses. If a guardian ad litem has been appointed to your case, sometimes their reports can be delayed, requiring you and your partner to seek a continuance.
If your case involves a complex financial situation, your forensic accountant, or other financial professionals might need more time to review your finances and identify, account for, or appraise property or accounts. Sometimes one partner refuses to release information or even tries to hide information during the discovery process. If things get complicated, your lawyer can seek a continuance.
Emergencies
If you find yourself facing unexpected health issues, or have a family emergency—like a funeral, or a family member suffering from critical health issues, you might be able to ask the court for a continuance. If there are legitimate reasons you cannot attend a court date listed in the summons, you may also be able to request a continuance.
You and your partner hired new lawyers
Sometimes individuals might file for divorce, thinking they’ll fight their divorce in court, but then they later decide to use the collaborative divorce process. If you have hired new collaborative divorce lawyers to handle your case or have decided to proceed with your divorce outside of court, you and your partner can request a continuance.
How Do I Get a Continuance?
There are two main ways you can get a continuance or delay in your court hearing or trial. You can obtain a continuance through mutual agreement or through court order.
Continuance by Mutual Agreement
The easiest way to get a continuance is to get your former spouse to agree to delay your court hearing or trial. You can simply write to your former spouse and their divorce attorney (or call them) letting them know you need more time to prepare for the hearing or to respond to their paperwork. If your former spouse agrees, he or she can reschedule the hearing. The King County website for scheduling family law motions has published email addresses and contact information to cancel a reservation for a hearing.
If the hearing has been cancelled or rescheduled, it’s important that you receive this information from your former spouse in writing. You can also contact the court clerk to confirm that the hearing or trial date has been changed. Otherwise, you’ll need to assume that the hearing is still scheduled. Couples who want to settle their divorce outside of court or those who want to use the collaborative divorce process can get a continuance by mutual agreement.
If your former spouse or their attorney refuses to grant you the continuance, you may need to request a continuance by court order.
Continuance by Court Order
If you need a judge to issue a continuance, you’ll need to fill out a Motion for Continuance and explain why you need a continuance. Because this process can be more involved, it’s usually best to try to write to your partner and their attorneys to get a continuance by mutual agreement.
But if you tried to negotiate a continuance by agreement with your former partner and they didn’t agree, you can always include documentation of your attempts to get a continuance by mutual agreement in your Motion for Continuance. There are also other situations, such as cases involving domestic violence, where continuance by mutual agreement isn’t possible, or is unsafe.
Your divorce lawyer can help you explain to the judge why a continuance is required, and help you navigate the process.
If you haven’t yet been able to seek legal advice or hire an attorney because you haven’t had time to do so, include this information in your Motion for Continuance. It can be helpful if you have scheduled an appointment to meet with a lawyer, or explain to the court the steps you are taking to seek legal assistance.
You can find Motion for Continuance forms here, at Washington Legal Help.
After you file your Motion for Continuance, you’ll need to formally serve (give) the paperwork to your former spouse or their attorneys. You’ll also need to attend a hearing for your Motion for Continuance.
If you must file your Motion for Continuance yourself because you haven’t yet had time to hire an attorney, here’s a general overview of the steps involved:
- Fill out the Motion for Continuance paperwork, which can be found here. In this paperwork, the “petitioner” is the spouse who initially filed divorce papers, and the “defendant” is the spouse who received the divorce papers. Under “No.” you’ll put the case number listed on your summons.
- Deliver the Motion for Continuance paperwork to your former partner and their divorce lawyer (you can do this yourself) and note on the paperwork the date and time when you gave them the paperwork and how the paperwork was served. You can also mail them the paperwork. These options are listed in the Motion for Continuance form.
- Deliver the Motion for Continuance to the court clerk. You can find information about how to contact the King County clerk here. Different counties in the state of Washington may have different procedures. You’ll need to file the paperwork with the clerk of the court where your hearing is scheduled.
- Attend the continuance hearing or the hearing as scheduled. Bring your Motion of Continuance paperwork to the hearing.
If you do not have time to file the Motion for Continuance (in King County, you must file five days before your hearing is scheduled), go to the hearing on the date it is scheduled and ask the judge at the hearing for a continuance. If you must go to the hearing, prepare yourself as much as possible for the hearing just in case the judge denies your request. If the judge doesn’t grant you a continuance, you can later appeal the decision.
A divorce lawyer in Washington state can help if you find yourself in this situation.
What Can I Do If a Hearing or Motion Has Happened, or if there is a Motion for Default, an Order of Default or Final Orders?
If you find out that a hearing or order has already happened or entered against you, it’s important to speak to a family law lawyer as soon as possible. This could happen if you received paperwork but didn’t attend the hearing or failed to meet deadlines, or if you didn’t receive paperwork or notices at all and default judgements were made.
The sooner you request that a judge vacate the orders, the more likely you are to be successful.
If you missed deadlines in responding to divorce paperwork, and final orders have not been made, you may still be able to respond. A divorce lawyer can help you file and serve a Notice of Appearance and a formal Response. If you find yourself in this situation, it is wise to speak to a family lawyer as soon as possible.
How to Avoid the Need for Continuance
The best way to avoid the need for a continuance is to decide to settle your divorce outside of court and to negotiate your divorce settlement before either of you file divorce paperwork. With the collaborative divorce process, you and your partner can draft your divorce agreement before either party files divorce paperwork. With collaborative divorce, you only file your divorce paperwork and request a hearing when you both are ready—that is, once you have agreed about all matters related to your divorce, including division of property and custody.
Couples can use the collaborative divorce process if one partner has filed for divorce, but the couple would likely need to get a continuance by agreement, so that they have time to work out their divorce settlement outside court. Once one party files for divorce, the clock starts ticking.
Speak to a Divorce Lawyer at Truce Law Today
The divorce process can be complicated. If you and your partner agree that you want to negotiate your divorce settlement out of court and are thinking of using collaborative divorce or mediation, you may want to consider reaching out to Truce Law, a collaborative divorce law firm in Washington today, before either of you submits divorce paperwork.
If you have received divorce paperwork and have questions, it’s important that you respond to the paperwork and attend hearings by the deadlines you have been given. Speak to a divorce lawyer as soon as possible. The divorce attorneys at Truce Law can assist you with seeking a continuance or help you negotiate with your former spouse about getting a continuance. Contact us today to learn more.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is unique. For guidance specific to your circumstances, consult a licensed family law attorney in your area.