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welcome to free divorce calm this is Christine M this is ed today we're going to talk about how to use formal discovery to prepare for trial discovery is complicated we're going to need two videos to talk about discovery in this first video we're going to talk about interrogatories and requests for admissions we will talk about other types of discovery in the next video Edie please explain what discovery is discovery refers to gathering information and documents from your spouse or from third parties so you can prepare for trial or prepare to negotiate a settlement there is informal discovery and formal discovery what is the difference between informal discovery and formal discovery informal discovery is where both parties cooperate with one another by voluntarily producing whatever information or documents the other party requests formal discovery is when your spouse will not voluntarily produce the information or documents you want so you have to send them or a third party a legal document to force them to provide the information and documents if I'm in litigation with my spouse isn't it best for me to not voluntarily give my spouse information or documents that he needs so that he is forced to go to the trouble of sending me formal discovery formal discovery is time-consuming to draft but it is a lot more time-consuming to respond to formal discovery can be incredibly expensive if lawyers get involved because it is so time-consuming I highly recommend that both parties cooperate with each other by freely exchanging information and documents so you can both avoid the time expense and aggravation of formal discovery are there different types of formal discovery yes we're going to start with interrogatories what are interrogatories interrogatories are written questions your spouse must answer under oath there are two types of interrogatories the first type is form Naga Tori's and the second type are called special interrogatories what our form interrogatories the Judicial Council puts out a set of form interrogatories for family law cases the form is FL 145 you can find the FL 145 form interrogatories in our court forms database the FL 145 consists of 21 questions that you can compel your spouse to answer fill out the caption on page 1 of the FL 145 and on page 2 check the boxes for whichever questions you want your spouse to answer you can check all of the boxes if you want or check just some of the boxes if you check box number 10 you will have to attach a blank schedule of assets and debts which is FL 142 to your FL 145 form what do I do after I have filled out the FL 145 after you filled out the FL 145 make a copy of the FL 145 and any attachments then complete a proof of service by first-class mail form which is POS - 0 3 0 you can find the POS - 0 3 0 form in our court forms database please note that this form is not an FL family law form it is a proof of service form and that's why it starts with the letters POS fill out as much of the POS - oh three O form as you can then have a friend that is over 18 years old mail the FL 145 together with any attachments such as a blank FL 142 and a copy of the POS - oh three O form to your spouse make sure your friend dates and signs the POS - oh three O form before the documents are put in the mail - your spouse your spouse will have 35 days in which to send you is or her answers to the form interrogatories listed in the FL 145 do I file my FL 145 with the court clerk you do not file the FL 145 or the POS - Oh 300 with the court clerk if you send your spouse form interrogatories don't be surprised if your spouse then mails you the same form interrogatories for you to answer so now I understand what form interrogatories are what are special interrogatories special interrogatories are questions you draft yourself and then submit to your spouse to answer under oath you may want your spouse to answer particular questions that do not appear on the form interrogatories if you want to send your spouse special interrogatories you will need to draft a special interrogatory pleading the special interrogatories must be typed on 28 line pleading paper which is a type of paper that lawyers use if I don't have 28 line pleading paper and I don't know how to draft a proper special interrogatory question what do I do we offer various discovery documents in a template form including a special interrogatory template the templates will print on 28 line pleading paper you can use the various templates to draft your own formal discovery documents the package of discovery document templates are available for purchase for nominal charge we will discuss how to access the discovery templates package at the end of the next video before I start drafting my special interrogatories are there any rules that I need to know about yes special interrogatories are not permitted to have subparts this means your questions may not have multiple parts such as sub parts a B C etc each special interrogatory has to be a single question special interrogatories may not include questions that are compound conjunctive or disjunctive questions this means you can't have questions that ask for more than one piece of information by using words such as and which is a conjunctive the word war which is a disjunctive make your special interrogatories clear and unambiguous if the question is unclear or ambiguous it will be objected to by your spouse the basic rule is to keep each special interrogatory question simple if you keep each special interrogatory questions simple you should be okay are there any other rules about the number of special interrogatory questions I can ask yes you can only ask 35 special interrogatories if you want to ask more than 35 special interrogatories you will need to include a declaration that briefly explains why it is necessary for you to ask more than 35 special interrogatories if you google California Code of Civil Procedure 2:03 0.050 and read this statute you will find that it includes a template for the declaration you will need to include if you want to ask more than 35 special interrogatories what do I do after I have drafted my set of special interrogatories after you've drafted your special interrogatories make a copy you will have a friend that is over 18 years old put the special interrogatories in the mail to your spouse you will then complete the proof of service by first-class mail which is POS - Oh 3 Oh fill out as much of the POS - oh 3 Oh form as you can and then have your friend date and sign the form make sure your friend dates and signs the form before the documents are put in the mail - your spouse your spouse will have 35 days in which to send you his or her answers to the special interrogatories do I file my original set of special interrogatories with the court clerk you do not file the special interrogatories or the POS - Oh 3o form with the court clerk if you send your spouse special interrogatories don't be surprised if your spouse then mails you a set of special interrogatories for you to answer let's talk about another type of formal discovery request for admissions and what are requests for admissions request for admissions can be used to compel your spouse to admit the genuineness of a specific document that you want to use a trial or to admit the truth of specific facts if your spouse admits that certain facts are true in response to a request for admissions you don't have to prove those facts at the time of trial if your spouse admits in a response to a request for admissions that a particular document is genuine then you do not need to prove the authenticity of that document at trial are there form requests for admissions like there are form interrogatories sort of there is a Judicial Council request for admissions form which is di SC - OH - oh but it is not much more than a cover sheet if you use the di SC - OH - oh form you will have to draft the set of facts you want admitted and list those facts on attachment 1 you can also attach to the DI SC - OH - oh form whatever documents you want your spouse to admit are genuine is the D is C - OH - Oh form in our court forms database yes this Judicial Council form begins with the letters D is C because it is not a family law form but a discovery form what if I don't know how to draft a proper request for admission that I can use for attachment one in our discovery package of templates we include a template that will assist you in drafting an attachment one that you can attach to your request for admissions our discovery package of templates also includes a sample template for attachment - to be used for admissions regarding the genuineness of documents is there a limit to the number of facts I can ask my spouse to admit when I use a request for admissions yes you are limited to 35 requests for admissions it is not 35 admissions of fact plus another 35 admissions regarding whether or not certain documents are genuine it's a total of 35 so if you ask your spouse to admit 20 different facts you can then only ask your spouse to make 15 admissions regarding the genuineness of documents if you need to have your spouse admit more than 35 items then you can do so but you will need to include a declaration that briefly explains why it is necessary for you to propound more than 35 requests for admissions if you google California Code of Civil Procedure two zero three three point zero five zero you can read this statute and the statute includes a template for the declaration you will need to include if you want to ask your spouse to admit more than 35 items before I start drafting my request for admissions are there other rules I should know yes requests for admissions can't include multiple facts subparts or compound statements requests must be clear make your request concise limit each request to a single fact also your attachment 1 must beyond 28 line pleading paper if you use our template it will print on 28 line pleading paper what do I deal with my requests for admissions after I have drafted a document after you've drafted your request for admissions make a copy you will have a friend that is over 18 years old put the request for admissions in the mail to your spouse you will then complete the proof of service by first class mail form which is POS - o 3 o fill out as much of the POS - o 3 o form as you can and then have your friend date and sign the form make sure your friend dates and signs the POS - o 3 o form before the documents are put in the mail - your spouse your spouse will have 35 days in which to send you his or her responses to your request for admissions do I file my original set of requests for admissions with the court clerk you do not file the request for admissions or the POS - o 3 o form with the court clerk this has been a presentation by free divorce calm