Prepare for and attend the Trial Management Conference
At least 28 days before trial, you'll attend a Trial Management Conference. When you get your trial date, the trial coordinator will also give you a date for your Trial Management Conference.
A Trial Management Conference is a short meeting with a judge where they make sure that both you and the other person are organized and ready for trial. The judge wants to make sure that everything is in place to help the trial be efficient and fair. If you have any questions or concerns about what will happen at the trial, you can ask them here.
What's discussed at the Trial Management Conference?
At the Trial Management Conference, the judge can raise or make orders on many issues. These are listed in Supreme Court Family Rule 14-3(9) and include:
- amendment of pleadings (e.g., Notice of Family Claim, Response)
- that you and the other person attend a settlement conference
- a plan for how the trial should be conducted
- that the number of days set aside for trial be changed
- facts to be admitted at trial
- documents to be admitted at trial, including agreements about the purpose of the documents at trial or preparing a common book of documents
- time limits on how long witnesses can be examined and cross-examined
- that a party provide a summary of the evidence of any witness
- that the evidence of witnesses be presented at trial in affidavit form
- time limits on opening statements and final submissions
- that the parties attend another Trial Management Conference
- that the trial be adjourned
Do you need to attend the Trial Management Conference?
If you're representing yourself, you must attend the Trial Management Conference. If you have a lawyer, your lawyer can go without you. But you'll have to be available either in person or by phone during the meeting for your lawyer to consult with you.