by Erik Carter, JD, Cordell & Cordell, PC
The discovery process is ane of the nigh important parts of your family police force litigation.  You may have sent Interrogatories and Requests To Produce Documents to your ex, and y'all may have to reply these same discovery requests.  Simply what if you don't want to respond to them? Or what if she never responds to your requests?  Do the questions and requests but hang out at that place, unanswered? Or are at that place are consequences?

There are consequences for non responding to discovery requests. Some of the more common consequences are (these may have different names in your local jurisdiction, but there should be a mechanism to achieve the results listed below):

Motions To Hogtie: requesting the Judge to enter an order that the other party must respond to the discovery requests.  This is a pleading to the Judge, letting the Judge know:
1. That y'all had sent discovery requests;
2. When you sent the discovery requests;
three. What the deadline for replying was;
4. That she missed the deadline;
5.  That you contacted her about her failure to respond to the discovery(Some jurisdictions require this.);
5. That you have no alternative but for the Approximate to order her to respond.

The Judge, if he finds in favor of your Move To Compel, will then give here a "drop expressionless" appointment to respond past. If she doesn't respond by this deadline, and so some of the consequences below tin can be imposed.

1. Attorney'due south fees for bringing Motions To Compel.  Since the filing of a Motion To Compel is not commonly washed, you should not accept to pay an chaser to fix and file one.  Especially since your lawyer is doing it considering the other party was violating the rules. So the courtroom tin can order that your attorney's fees be paid.  Usually this is plenty of a threat of a sanction to have the other side comply.

2. Exclusion of show.  One of the most extreme sanctions is just not allowing the other side to nowadays any testify that would take been produced under the discovery requests.  For example, say one of your requests was "List all the reasons why you lot take denied FATHER his scheduled parenting time."  If she doesn't reply to this request, and the Courtroom has tried various Orders compelling compliance, the court may just say only that she cannot present any reasons why yous were denied your parenting time.  In other words: she cannot present a defence force.  Wouldn't that make going to courtroom easier?

3. Presumptions that requested items would be contrary to her position.  Again, permit'due south say that you have asked for "all medical records and md'south notes for the past six months" because she is claiming that she is disabled and needs maintenance from yous.  And she refuses to produce the records, and she invokes privacy laws when you try to subpoena them.  The court is allowed to presume that she has not responded considering the medical records will show that she is in fact not disabled, and that therefore she has no support for her claim to maintenance.  Wouldn't that make going to courtroom easier?

Using discovery to uncover her instance is an extremely important mechanism, and can ultimately save y'all a lot of time and money. However, the discovery requests must be followed through, especially if her response is no response at all.  By chop-chop and aggressively seeking consequences to her failure to answer to discovery requests, you and your lawyer can either destroy her case or salve yourself a lot of hours and money spent in court.

Erik H. Carter is a Senior Attorney of the Cordell & Cordell, P.C. office in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Carter has practiced since 1993 as an attorney. He is licensed in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania as well as the Northern District of Indiana and the Southern District of Indiana.  Read more than

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