So far I’ve discussed the changes to the required financial disclosures and changes to the temporary hearings, and now, I want to discuss the change that will have the largest impact on attorneys-scheduling of matters and calendar call. These changes have a direct impact on attorneys, but clients know that if things are easier for an attorney, that translates into less attorney fees for the client.

Before to calendar a case, we had to call/email/fax the clerks for each of our assigned judges. The clerks have tons of work to do beyond giving out court dates, so often you would wait a day or longer to get a response. Inevitably, you would get dates, and for some reason, the dates wouldn’t work, and we’d end up calling back the clerk to start the cycle over. In addition, there was always the guessing game of trying to decide if your case could actually be heard on the date you agreed upon. If you waited for a date where you were “guaranteed” to be heard, you could easily wait 5-8 months for that court date. The whole process was just a mess.

Now, the lawyers of Wake County have contributed their own funds to create and run a court date website: www.wcfcc.com. (WARNING–this website is not live, and it is not scheduled to be live until later this year). The goal is to be able to go to the website and see the calendars for any judge. This website will alleviate the work of the clerk and will give attorneys accurate views of the calendar at the click of the mouse.

The next change has to do with calendar call. In the past our calendars ran from either Monday-Thursday or the single day assigned. Calendar call started the day and took about on hour. After this hour, the court actually started hearing cases if everyone was ready to start. Since you never knew when you would go during the day or week, it was scheduling nightmare for attorneys, parties, and witnesses. Now, there is a two-week calendar for the main courtrooms, and prior to the session starting, there will be a meeting for everyone on the calendar. After the meeting, the clerk will give you a specific time that session to be heard. You will either be heard on that day or the next day. If not on those two days, you won’t be heard. This  is called the two-day rule.

Hopefully these scheduling changes will allow for a more efficient process for attorneys and parties proceeding on their own. These rules can be difficult, and our firm knows these rules and we will be happy to guide you through the process if you are divorcing in Wake County.

Tomorrow, my final thoughts.

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