Welcome back to the Oxen Dine Law podcast. Today we are talking about temporary orders. We're going to tell you what they are and when you might need them in your divorce case. So Christine client comes into the office. We see this all the time and there's a reason they're there because their household environment is awful. It is stressful. It's like walking on eggshells. They aren't getting along. They're having altercations, whether it's verbal or physical. Um, they don't have access to money. Uh, the spouse is micromanaging their access to money. They've got kids and they're fighting over who gets the kids and when each other of them gets the kids. Sounds like a classic case for a temporary order, doesn't it? >> That's right. Right. So, temporary orders are not automatic or temporary hearings, I should say, or not automatic. um you do have to request a temporary hearing and usually you tell the court upfront these are the temporary issues that we want addressed. You don't put your relief in the original motions. You don't say what you want. You say what issues that you want addressed and you may give some information as to why it needs to be addressed on a temporary basis. But when we're looking at temporaries, especially in a divorce case, the only temporary issues are going to be temporary use and possession of the marital residence. And that doesn't have to be addressed in everyone. If you guys are already established separate residences, you might still need a temporary hearing. But if you're all living together, use and possession of the of the marital residence is going to be a temporary issue. Temporary parenting time and temporary support, whether that's child support or alimony. And if you go in for a temporary hearing, yes, chances are if it's that bad, a judge is going to award one of you temporary use of the house and ask the other to establish separate residence. But please know that that is not absolute, necessary, or required. I have seen plenty of times where the judge says, "Okay, well, I wish I could separate y'all, but the finances aren't there or the money isn't there or the opportunity isn't there." So, it's not automatic. So, please understand that if circumstances warrant it, and that's what a good attorney is going to talk through with you, is do your circumstances warrant removal? And is removal actually feasible in your case? Just because you want someone out doesn't mean a a court's never going to render someone homeless. They're never going to require someone to overextend themselves financially. Yeah, it's going to get tight. There's how many times you hear in a divorce, I can't afford this. Like, well, you can on paper. You're just going to have to tighten up. But if it is possible, the courts are going to separate the two of you into separate residences. Whether that's you know that his mom lives two neighborhoods over or y'all have a rental house um that you you know the tenants are up in two months. Okay. Well, somebody's probably going to go live there. So, it's going to be environment but also does the situation allow for separate residences. >> That's right. And sometimes, you know, it's it's nice if we have the finances and the ability to separate folks while they're going through the divorce. And if that ability is there, courts almost always will do that. uh because nobody in that type of environment wants to have to live with their spouse while they're going through this process. But maybe it's a situation where there's just not enough money going around to separate the parties into two different residences. You still can get a temporary order to address other things such as who's paying the mortgage and who's paying the utilities and you know making sure that both parties have access to money and addressing uh any custody issues that may be present or any parenting time issues. So, it's not always just separation of the parties and two households. Again, that happens a lot. And if your facts and circumstances justify it, a judge will do that. And I hesitate to do it. But whether the parties are separated under a temporary order or whether they're continue to live together, the judge will put a temporary order in place that addresses all the finances as well. Custody, parenting time, making the kids continuing in their same school, making sure both parties have access to medical records and school records and access to the kids, etc. So temporary orders are very helpful in cases, but not every case needs a temporary order. Sometimes when parties come in, they're getting a long fine. They're not having any fights or arguments. They're not in dispute over who's taking the kids to school and who's picking them up that day. They both have access to money. Bills are getting paid on time. So, if all that is the case, you don't need a temporary order. Something else that we can address, by the way, on a temporary basis is attorney's fees. So, you almost always will still have to come up with some money to hire your attorney to get that process started. But we frequently s see situations where one party has access to all the money and the other party does not. That is something else you can get temporary relief on at a temporary hearing is access to money to pay for future attorneys fees. >> Sure. And a lot of times I advise people whether it's by consent or through the courts um on a temporary basis, sometimes you wouldn't think you need a parenting time schedule when you're all living under the same roof in the same household. But it is remarkable how helpful it is because even in the most amicable of situations, there's still that little bit of awkwardness. There's still a little bit of tension. There's still times that you really just don't want to be at the house with your spouse if you can avoid it. But if there's no parenting schedule in place, you may decide after work, you're just going to I'm going to go have drinks with my girlfriends tonight. I don't want to see him. Like, I had a rough day at work. I can't just go straight home and see his face. So, I'm going to go have some drinks with the girls. And you may text him and say, "Hey, um, I'm going to be home a little late." And he's like, "Oh crap. I'm at the Braves game with my friends, right? And now nobody's home to get the kids off the bus. Um, so if you do know who's responsible for the children at what times or on what days or what nights, you can start to sort of have a social life, and I'm not talking about dating. I'm talking truly have a social life or even just, okay, after work I want to go get my nails done or get a pedicure or I just want to go shop for groceries without the kids in the cart. Um, but you have that ability because you do know the sort of separation of care is there and you know who's responsible for the kids on what nights. Same thing with getting to and from school. You know that you can schedule that conference to start at 7 a.m. because I don't have to get the kids to school on Wednesdays because that's their dad's night or whatever. So, just because you're all living in the same house doesn't mean it's not smart to get a temporary schedule. And it's just good practice for the kids. The kids kind of get used to that shared parenting and it's easy to transition when you're in the same house. So that by the time you're in separate houses, they're a little bit more used to it. They're so used to access to both parents at all times. If mom's not right there, dad's over here. So it sort of does give them an easy transition if you can separate parenting obligations and time, even when you're in the same household. >> And remember, temporary orders don't just apply to divorce cases. They can also apply to your modification case. So let's say you're filing an action to modify custody or parenting time. You also have the right to request a temporary hearing and get a temporary order to get temporary relief in that modification case. And keep in mind, temporary orders are just that. They're temporary. It's not the final order. It's just an initial order that the court puts in place while the case is pending to go ahead and put some guidelines and rules in place so that both parties know what they're supposed to be doing until that case can be settled or heard on a final basis. Which kind of brings me to my next point. These temporary hearings and these temporary orders tend to set the tone for the rest of the case. And so what do I mean by that? Once you go into court and you have shown your evidence and shown your cards and the judge makes an initial decision, that judge is going to remember that hearing. That judge is going to have access to that order. And when you come back on a final, if nothing's changed, if there's nothing nothing significant that has happened in the case or material different than what was presented the temporary, most likely you can expect your final order to be very similar to what the temporary order is, which is why we put so much care and attention to detail and time into preparing for these temporary hearings. That is a huge mistake we see parties make and attorneys make is they request these temporary hearings and they come in and they're not ready for the temporary hearing. They haven't developed their case yet. They don't have the evidence that they need and the witness testimony they need to be able to convince the judge to give your client what you want. And so you end up coming in and for lack of a better word, you've blown your load and you have nothing to show for it. and now you're coming back trying to get a second bite at the apple on the final and that usually doesn't work out well. So, you've got to be like locked and loaded. I tell my clients all the time, we've got this temporary hearing. Um, here's what I need you to start doing to get ready for it. And we'll actually give our clients a list of homework. And that includes getting together evidence and getting witness affidavit together and a bunch of other stuff so that when we walk into court, we are locked and loaded with a very strong persuasive case with our best evidence possible at that temporary. And in some instances, Christine, I would argue that first appearance, that first opportunity to convince a judge on a temporary basis is even more important than the final. >> For sure. And one thing that I think a lot of people sleep on when it comes to temporary hearings is there is a huge difference between temporary and final when it comes to domestic cases. And the biggest difference is that on a temporary hearing in a divorce or other domestic case, you can offer witness testimony in the form of an affidavit. In fact, you're required to. At a temporary hearing, you can have your witness testify and one other live witness. That's it. which means if you need 10 people to talk to the judge about a specific incident, um only the client and one other can be there live. So the rest give their testimony in the form of an affidavit which your attorneys will walk you through. At a final hearing, you don't get that luxury. If you want 10 people to tell the judge the story at a final, all 10 have to be live and present in person and get on the stand and take a day off work and swear under oath and tell their story in front of everybody. So, the ability to offer sworn testimony in the form of an affidavit is a huge advantage in a temporary hearing. And a lot of times the judge has read those before you even make an opening argument. So, they have a very good idea of what's going on behind the scenes direct from live witness testimony, >> which is why you need to hire a qualified family law attorney like Oxendine Law because and not represent yourself. And again, I understand not everybody has access to resources to pay attorneys. And even those that have money to pay attorneys don't want to give it to attorney. We get that. But if you have the means to hire an attorney, hire an attorney. And not only hire an attorney, hire somebody that practices exclusively in divorce and family law because those attorneys know what the judge wants to hear at a temporary. Christine, how many times have you been in a hearing with an attorney on the other side that doesn't know the difference between what presented a temporary hearing versus a final and the judge says, "Ma'am or sir, this is just a temporary." >> Yeah. Objection, your honor. We're not here for a final. Objection, your honor. We're not here for a final. >> So, you got to know what to present. You got to know how to present it to get the best result possible. And with offices in uh Sani, Georgia and Athens, Georgia, we are fully prepared and equipped to guide you through every stage of the divorce process. Make sure you hit subscribe wherever you listen so that you get first notification of future podcast episodes. Thanks for joining in. We'll see you next time.