Contested

When one party, or both, seek immediate Court intervention, the case is deemed contested. Even if the case does not start off with a formal court appearance a case may be deemed contested.

Issues such as custody, property distribution, the accurate income of a spouse, who will stay in the home and who will leave, these are all issues that can cause a case to be contested.

If a case proceeds in Court, there are various court conferences that each party must attend:

• Preliminary Conference – scheduled at the beginning of a case
• Motion Conference – during the case after one or both of the parties has filed a Motion seeking various forms of judicial intervention
• Compliance Conference – during the case to manage issues and insure discovery is being complied with
• Trial Conference – if there is no settlement of the issues, the court will
  hold a conference prior to scheduling a Trial.