Circumstances may arise immediately after your divorce case is filed or several weeks down the road that create an emergency. The best way to handle an emergency is to anticipate and avoid it or speedily resolve it without assistance from the court. Why is this? Because court dockets are overflowing with cases, judges are swamped with work and every case is viewed as important and demanding immediate attention. The biggest obstacle to getting a quick hearing is that open time is hard to find on any judge’s docket because hearings are scheduled for months in advance. We do not have enough judges and hence, there is no more time available.

The most effective way of not getting caught in the morass and shut out is to anticipate likely problems and call them to your attorney’s attention when he is preparing to file your case in court. At this time he is in a position to prepare the divorce petition in a way that contains your concerns and that, in and of itself, often eliminates the problem. Another way many emergencies can be headed off is by the Circuit Court’s “Standing Order” which governs all family law cases until a first hearing can be scheduled. This Order directs that no party is to relocate or conceal the whereabouts of any child, or deface, destroy, sell or otherwise dispose of any marital assets. The Order provides that neither party shall harass the other at home or work, nor shall they commit an act of domestic violence on the other. It is forbidden to raid joint banking accounts, to wipe out any financial account or to run up balances on credit cards.

The Standing Order is served with every petition or related document and is usually enough, in and of itself to prevent problematic conduct by either party. Failure to heed the Order results in Contempt of Court hearings and the violator may put him or herself at a disadvantage for the remainder of the case.

An “emergency” is narrowly defined by the courts.  Unless the circumstances present a threat of children being harmed or kidnapped, or marital assets are in danger of being seriously damaged or destroyed, no hearing time will be granted.