COVID-19 has been the sort of thing that, even with sixteen years of experience, that is uncharted territory. However, the San Diego Superior Court held a webinar this week about where we are and where we are going. The big takeaways are:
1. We hope for a “soft reopening” of the Courts at the end of May, likely May 26. This means minimal physical appearances and video based appearances. The chaos is going to come in the rescheduling of previously missed hearings and, for those who had trials set in June and July, fighting to keep those dates so we don’t have to wait another six or seven months to get your day in court.
2. We are going to probably see filing dropboxes and, maybe, the family court will be integrated into the e-filing system. Hopefully this will help those litigants who have been waiting to file actions an opportunity to do so and get on calendar.
3. Most important, for those with child or spousal support issues, we can mail an unfiled motion the other party and the judicial officer hearing your case will have discretion to make the order retroactive to date of filing. This is important because under the pre-COVID rules, retroactivity could only be made to the date of filing. That means that if you’ve been effected by COVID in terms of your earning ability, time is of the essence for filing your motion.
Give me a call at 760-806-4331 for a free consultation to discuss.