I forgot to confirm my hearing on time, does that make me a bad person?

It happens to everyone.  I don’t know any family law lawyer in King or Snohomish County that hasn’t forgot to confirm a temporary order hearing at least once in their lives.  I’ve done it before.  As an attorney, it’s not an easy conversation to have with your client.  I know because I’ve had that conversation before, but they call the legal business the practice of law for a reason.  It is a practice.  So if you’ve made the mistake yourself, rest easy.  We’ve all done it.  So, now that we’ve got that out of the way,  there’s two issues you need to address: what does this mean and what will happen next.

Will I still have my hearing if I didn’t confirm my hearing on time?

No.  You will not have the hearing and there is nothing you can do about having the hearing on time that is within the realm of reasonable efforts.

So what do I do now that I missed my confirmation window?

First, it needs to be rescheduled.  Sometimes people file a restraining order or Domestic Violence Protection Order that coincides with the temporary order hearing.  Usually this occurs when you file your motion.  If you have a restraining order or protection order, you probably know that you have it.  In that case, you will need to refile your restraining order.  This means a trip back to the court house and the ex parte department to get it.  If you don’t have an expiring restraining order or some time sensitive issue, then you can just go ahead and renote the court hearing.  Second, you need to tell the other side.  Karma lives and breathes in the courthouse and if you “forget” to tell the other side not to show up and they do, don’t expect the judge to be happy with you when you go to court in two weeks.  If you did that to me, I’d be pissed that you wasted my time and I’d be sure to ask for attorneys fees at the next court hearing we had.  Be smart and place nice.

If you are having issues with confirming your temporary order hearing and need some assistance, you can call us at 206-633-2015 to schedule some time to have an attorney review your documents. If you have a time urgent issue, I’d strongly recommend having an attorney review your material.  You could also call the opposing counsel and see if they would work with you on a new date.  Remember, what comes around, goes around.