Difference between revisions of "Family Law Trials in Provincial Court"

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| Service

(Rule 11(7).

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For each witness, prepare a list of the issues that you need them to speak about in their testimony.  Then make a list of questions to ask and review them with the witness before trial.  For each witness, you likely want to start with basic questions such as their full name, address, age and occupation, their education if relevant, and their relationship to the parties, and then move on to the focused areas of inquiry.  

=== Expert witnesses ===

For each expert witness, prepare a list of the issues that you need the expert to speak about in their testimony.  Then make a list of questions to ask and review the questions with the expert before trial.  You may have questions about their training and experience, about the process of information gathering they used to form their opinion, and about the opinion itself.   

# '''Prepare an opening statement:'''  This is a statement that is made at the beginning of each party’s case to give the judge some factual background about the case, an overview of the legal issues involved, and the orders that party is asking for.  If the parties have reached agreement on any issues, this should be communicated to the judge during a party’s opening statement.  If there are housekeeping issues (such as an expert witness only being available to testify on a specific date), such issues should be raised at this time as well.  A party’s opening statement should be consistent with a party’s closing argument.   

# '''Update outline for closing submissions:'''  Each party’s closing submissions should include a summary of the law on each issue, a description of each order sought by the party making the submissions, and a summary of the evidence that supports each order sought.  If a party has made an extensive outline during their earlier trial preparation (as suggested above), this step is simplified.  A party’s closing argument should be consistent with the party’s opening statement.  

# '''Consider preparing a chronology:''' Each party should also consider preparing a chronology of important events such as the birth dates of each party and child, the date of cohabitation, the date of marriage, the date of separation, the date of divorce (if applicable), and the dates of any other significant events such as moves, job changes, promotions, inheritances, gifts, diagnoses, etc. for easy reference for the judge at trial.  If you do prepare a chronology, be sure to bring copies for the judge, the other party (or their lawyer), and yourself.  

# '''Prepare party’s own trial binder:'''  Convert any trial preparation binder into a trial binder.  Replace all documents with the following, each of which should be included behind separate tabs:

#* Opening statement.

#* Direct examination of each witness that party intends to call (with each examination behind a separate tab).

#* Final argument/closing submissions.

#* Miscellaneous notes/to do list — sometimes during a trial, a judge will ask a party to do something during a court break or a party thinks of another idea to explore.  It is helpful to have a place to list such miscellaneous items and thoughts that come up during trial in order to stay organized.