I am residing in Texas and have to submit a motion to have my child support reduced due to my oldest child turning 18 (over 6 months ago) and despite child support removing her from the case, they refuse to seek a reduction of the support. Due to the sheer distance, travel, and lost time from work, do the courts (particularly Carteret County) provide any means of holding the hearing over the phone. I know several states that do this. Here in Texas, if there is more than 3 hours travel time, the have the hearing via telephone.
To require two days of driving, hotel expenses, a full day waiting for your case to be hopefully heard, and then two more days of driving to return home, seems to be asking a bit much only to have a reduction in the support. The last time I went to a hearing, the court repeatedly told me they would have to reschedule the hearing due to the number of cases scheduled. This seemed rather unreasonable since BOTH parties involved had requested the hearing to be rescheduled in the first place, and the court refused both of us.
No, if you have a hearing scheduled you will need to be present. If you are not present and it is your motion, most likely your motion will be dismissed. All you can do at this point, since she apparently will not settle this matter with you, is go to court and let the judge know that you have traveled here from TX to hopefully make your case be higher in priority for that day to save you additional time and expense. Good luck to you.
Thank you for the answer. The last time I went to a scheduled hearing I advised them that I had driven over 15+ hours to go to the hearing. They told me “sorry”. It is unfortunate that North Carolina has refused to move into the modern age to resolve minor legal issues. I guess looking out for “the welfare of the children” doesn’t apply in this case since there will be a loss of a weeks income that could have gone towards child support.