Summons

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

Hello, I have a few questions.

  1. I sent the complaint and received back the return receipt and will file the affadavit on monday, so I guess I will wait for the “answer” over next 30 days, so my question is, in the event the spouse has legal council and counsel sends an extended time to answer, does that push it to 60 days before I can calender? (I sent the spouse a Financial affidavit to move the process along)

2.I listed a few “reliefs” in my complaint, one being PSS. Do I calender for this first? (I need this BAD) Or all of them at once (PSS,ED, Al)?

3.Is this “calendering” for a hearing or trial or do I select both on document?

  1. Concerning calender, how do I calender? with a specific judge?

  2. Please explain rule 12.

  3. Since I used and will use the DIY service, does this fall under another claim to recieve reimbursement for Attorney costs/fees? I do plan on hiring council once I have PSS funds to do so.

  4. If I can claim this as another relief do I have to ammend my complaint?

  5. I have used the DIY service and will re-aquire this service in the future once the ball is rolling on these future matters. Meanwhile can you tell me if I use the same login or will it be diffrent?

2

There is no statutory requirement that you not notice a hearing for 60 days. If your county has local rules, I would look to those for deadlines. For instance, in Wake County, we get hearing dates for temporary matters such as PSS when we file the action. If you do not have local rules, I would contact the clerk to figure out the available dates for calendaring and how exactly calendaring works in your jurisdiction, and what necessary paperwork (notice of hearing and sometimes a calendar request) needs to be submitted to calendar the hearings. What the judge allows as it pertains to attorney fees is up to the individual judge. The statute isn’t very definite and gives the judge the right to award “reaosnable” attorney fees. You should amend your complaint ASAP to avoid having to seek leave of court to include this claim. You will likely use the same login for DIY. We moved to a new system in March, 2012, so if your login was recent, it should be the same.

If you have specific questions about portions of Rule 12, I will gladly answer them but explaining the entire rule is outside the scope of this forum.