Ex Parte Motions, Applications and Fee Waivers

1. Ex parte motions and applications, including General Statute §46b-15 applications shall be brought to the appropriate clerk, who shall deliver it to a judge for review. No party or attorney shall attempt to bring the application or motion to a judge directly. Said filing shall comply with the rules of practice. 
2. All fee waiver requests shall be filed in the Clerk’s office. Please be sure to fully complete the fee waiver application. 

 

Case Management 

All matters shall have a signed, completed case management form on or before the case management date. Where both sides have entered an appearance (self-represented or through counsel), each side must sign the form (counsel or self-represented); if one side will not sign the form, all must appear before the Presiding Judge on the case management date at 9:30 a.m. 

1. If the matter is designated uncontested, the parties shall select the date for the uncontested hearing (any day except Thursday) at 9:30 a.m., or may proceed on the case management date (see procedure for Uncontested Matters below). If there are children, a parenting plan signed by the parties in substantial compliance with JD-FM-199 shall be filed with the case management form.
2. If the matter is designated as limited contested, the parties shall select the dates for completion of discovery items and select a date for any requested mediation/pretrial services, as provided for on JD-FM-163.
3. If the matter is designated as fully contested, the parties and counsel must appear in court on the case management date. P.B. §25-50(d). At that time, the matter will be referred to family relations for screening as to the appropriate service. 

Any case which does not have a case management stipulation filed by the designated date may be subject to dismissal.

Status Conferences/Report Back 

Status conferences shall no longer be routinely utilized by the court. They shall be utilized by the court for monitoring purposes on scheduled dates. Counsel (with notice to all parties involved in the case) may request a status conference through the family caseflow coordinator for good cause. In the discretion of the presiding judge, a status conference for this purpose may be by telephone. 

Report back dates shall be assigned for the completion of any family relations services, i.e., mediation, issue focused evaluation, full evaluation on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Both parties and counsel must be present in court at these report back dates in order to schedule the next appropriate court event. 

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Pretrials

Attendance of parties and counsel at a pretrial is mandatory. They shall provide for the pretrial the following: 

• Current sworn financial affidavits, including detailed income information, a complete list of liabilities, fair market value of all assets and identification and value of all retirement and employment benefits.
• Written claims for relief, in accordance with Practice Book Sec. 25-30(c), including the following and other items as appropriate:

• Counsel and self-represented parties are ordered to submit to opposing counsel or the opposing party documents in compliance with this order at least five (5) days before the scheduled pretrial. All parties and counsel are to appear promptly at the scheduled time for their pretrial.
• Immediately following this session, counsel and parties are to report to the family caseflow coordinator for further assignment. If the matter is settled, the matter may go to judgment immediately or be scheduled for an uncontested hearing date. If it has not settled, it shall be assigned a firm trial date(s). Counsel/parties must indicated to caseflow the expected length of the trial. Continuances of trial dates shall not be granted, unless for good cause shown.

Family Relations Pretrial
Family relations pretrials may be held on any day except Thursday and may be scheduled on the case management date or on a report back date as approved in the case management order. Family relations pretrials may be rescheduled one time prior to the date scheduled by counsel or the parties by supplying caseflow with an agreed new date and report back date. 

Special Masters Pretrials
The New Haven Superior Court has implemented a procedure in 2004 in order to insure the Special Masters time is not wasted and the cases are ripe for a special masters pretrial. Under this procedure, a “Special Masters Status Conference” will be scheduled at 2:00 p.m. one week prior to the Special Masters date. At that time, compliance with the standing orders must be completed. If not, counsel must appear to explain why the matter will not be proceeding the following week for a Special Master’s pretrial. If compliance has been met and counsel will be proceeding forward with the Special Masters, they shall call the family caseflow coordinator and mark the status conference off. Documentation shall be exchanged in accordance with the above.

Judicial Pretrials
Judicial pretrials shall be scheduled on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays by request of counsel or sua sponte. Parties may request an extended judicial pretrial which shall be scheduled through caseflow.

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Short Calendar 

Contempt matters shall be scheduled for Wednesdays. All other short calendar matters shall be heard on Thursdays. The court shall begin hearing ready matters at 9:30 a.m. There will not be a formal call of the calendar. All ready matters shall be assigned a specific courtroom for hearing. 

All contested matters, except motions concerning questions of law, shall report to family relations for discussion. Family relations officers are available at 9:00 am. All agreements shall be in writing and signed by the parties and counsel. 

All parties and counsel must comply with the instructions printed on the short calendar for (1) procedures to follow to notify the court and the opposing party for cases to be marked ready, and (2) procedures at short calendar. Only those motions listed on the calendar shall be addressed. Write-in and mark overs are no longer allowed; exceptions shall rarely be granted by the presiding judge.

Agreement shall be called first in the order received by the courtroom clerk. Following agreements, contested matters will be heard according to the length of time indicated on the “report to the clerk”. When the parties return from family relations, the moving party must submit the fully completed “Report to Clerk” form to the courtroom clerk. The court may limit the argument to the time indicated on the “Report to Clerk”. If more than one hour is necessary, the court may specially assign the matter for another day; however, this will not be done routinely - all parties and counsel should assume that the matter will be heard by the court on its short calendar date. 

On all matters which involve financial issues, including requests for counsel fees, the parties must submit current, sworn financial affidavits to the court prior to commencement of the hearing. Failure to do so may result in the matter being marked off. 

By 12:30 p.m., the parties shall report to the courtroom clerk whether they (1) have an agreement; (2) are waiting to meet with family relations; (3) one party has failed to appear; or (4) require a hearing. If the moving party is present and the non-appearing party was properly notified and/or served, and all required documents are presented to the court, the court shall proceed with a hearing on the matter. Failure to report to the courtroom clerk by 12:30 may result in the matter being marked off. 

Referral to Family Relations 

The following policy is in effect for all referrals to the Family Services Unit: 

1. No case will be referred to the Family Services Unit without prior screening by a Family Relations Counselor.
2. Counsel and clients must be present and participate in the screening on the day of referral.
3. A completed referral form, including a continuance date, must be presented to the court for signature and order.

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Trial Dates

All parties and counsel must be prepared for trial on the assigned trial dates. There shall be no referrals to family relations on the day of trial. Continuance requests will rarely be granted, and only for good cause shown to the presiding judge. One week prior to the assigned trial date, counsel and pro se parties in the above captioned matter are ordered to submit to the trial judge through the family caseflow office and provide copies to all parties, documents in compliance with this Trial Management Order. Copies must be provided to all parties. The following documents shall be submitted: 

1. Current sworn financial affidavits, which include detailed income statements, a complete list of liabilities, fair market value of all assets and current value of all retirement and employment benefits, as well as Child Support Guidelines worksheet, if there are any minor children. 
2. A list of pending motions, outstanding discovery requests and proposed motions in limine. 
3. A list setting forth the names and addresses of each witness to be called at trial, including the relationship of each witness to the case (e.g., party, fact witness, expert); and whether a scheduling problem exists as to the testimony of any such witness.
4. A list of exhibits reasonably expected to be introduced, indexed by number for plaintiff, letter for defendant, and roman numeral for minor children. The list shall briefly describe each exhibit and indicate whether any party objects to the admissions of such exhibit. If there is an objection, the exhibit should be marked for identification. 
5. If the parenting responsibility plan is agreed upon, a written stipulation detailing the agreement signed by the parties must be filed. If it is not, the party’s proposed parenting responsibility plan, including desired custodial language, shall be included in the proposed orders. 
6. Written proposed orders, in accordance with Practice Book Sec. 25-30(c), which shall be comprehensive and shall set forth the party’s requested relief, and shall be submitted at the beginning of evidence. 

If a Family Relations counselor is going to testify, the counselor must have one week prior notice. 

The forms not listed above but listed on the Uncontested Dissolution checklist below shall be submitted at the beginning of evidence. 

Failure to fully comply with this order may subject the offending party to sanctions, including the preclusion of evidence and/or witnesses. 

Uncontested Dissolution Checklist

1. The following is a complete list of documents for Uncontested Dissolutions. Parties must prepare the documents that apply to their case.

Dissolution of Marriage/Civil Union Report (Form JD-FM-181/181a) (C.P.B. Section 25-58). Used by the State to keep statistics on divorce.

Plaintiff’s Financial Affidavit (Form JD-FM-6) (C.P.B. Section 25-30). Items left blank are assumed to be zero. The form must be signed and sworn to before a Notary or Commissioner of the Superior Court.

Defendant’s Financial Affidavit (Form JD-FM-6) (C.P. B. Section 25-30). Items left blank are assumed to be zero. The form must be signed and sworn to before a Notary or Commissioner of the Superior Court.

Affidavit Concerning Children (Form JD-FM-164) (C.P.B. Section 25-57). Must be signed and sworn to before a Notary or Commissioner of the Superior Court.

Child Support Guidelines Worksheet (Form CCSG-1) (C.P.B. Section 25-30). Both sides of the form must be completed. It must be signed by the preparer.

Affidavit Concerning Military Service (may be Form JD-7M-178) (must be in compliance with C.P.B. Section 17-21). Must be done if there is a non-appearing defendant.

Advisement of Rights (Form JD-FM-71) (C.P.B. Section 25-30). Used when alimony or support is to be ordered. If the obligee waives the right to an immediate income withholding the reverse side of the form must also be completed and signed.

Income Withholding Order (Form JD-FM-1). Complete when an immediate withholding order is issued. The clerk will have to review and authorize service of this form on the obligor’s employer. After service, in non IV-D cases, the originally served document and form JD-FM-150 must be sent to SES Center at the address on that form.

Signed Dissolution Agreement or Stipulation. When the parties have an agreement on all issues, it must be reduced to writing. This can be a written agreement or can be done on Form JD-FM-172.

Written Claims for Relief. When there is a non-appearing defendant and the plaintiff seeks orders to be issued in addition to dissolution of marriage/civil union, the plaintiff must submit a complete written list of orders for review by the Judge.

Parenting Education Program Certificate. The program provider submits this to the court after the completion.

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