Do I need to advise ex’s attorney of any affidavits that I will be presenting as evidence before the hearing since I am pro se or can I just bring the affidavits to court to present to the judge on our scheduled court date?
It depends on what the local rules in your county dictate. Some counties make no mention of a time requirement for serving affidavits to the opposing side, others do not. The default is that affidavits should be served on the other side not later than 10 days prior to the hearing.
I have checked the site twice under local rules and I do not see anything about affidavits other than ones for child support/income, etc. If that is a rule and I am overlooking it, would the judge still allow me to present the affidvait if his attorney argues about it? His attorney has made many mistakes each time we go to court, and the judges really don’t do anything to her except reprimand her a little for not knowing how to do her job. To my knowledge, a list of witnesses doesn’t have to be given prior to trial unless they are subpoenaed because she brought an expert witness in and didn’t tell my attorney, so would an affidavit sort of fall under the same category as voluntary witnesses?
I don’t mind sending her a copy if I have to do that, but I would rather just present the evidence to the judge instead of having to deal with my ex and his attorney any more than I have to do so.
If your rules don’t specify a rule on affidavits they should be treated as voluntary witnesses, however there is no real reason to take a risk here. I recommend you do send a copy of your affidavits to the other side prior to trial.