What are Pretrial Motions Used For in a Divorce Case?

For the small percentage of divorces that do go to trial, you can expect there to be some issues that will require at least a temporary solution before your trial date arrives. You and your spouse have the ability to make your own short-term agreements for certain hot-button issues related to your divorce, but a failure to agree on such issues will necessitate pre-trial motions for the court to intervene and render its own decision.

Pretrial motions are generally used to handle issues such as:

• Child custody: Who will have primary custody of the children until the divorce is finalized? How much time will each child spend with each parent? Where will they go to school, and how will you deal with special events?
• Protection orders: Protection orders will be necessary if one spouse has legitimate reason to fear for their safety. If there has been a history of domestic violence, for example, the court may issue restraining orders and limit communications.
• Asset control: The court can determine who controls or occupies the family home, or who gets temporary possession of certain important assets.
• Money: The court can render decisions on how much one spouse will pay the other during the process of the divorce for alimony or child support.
• Enforcement: Spouses can file pretrial motions to have any of the above issues enforced if the other spouse failed to live up to their end of the bargain.

These are just a few examples of some of the short-term issues that may need to be handled through pretrial motions. For more information, contact an experienced Long Island divorce attorney at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates today.