Seattle Divorce Court (Part 2) - Seattle Divorce Evidence - Seattle Divorce Attorney, Amanda DuBois

www.duboislaw.net
So now your Seattle divorce trial is about to begin, what happens, how does it work, what should you expect?
What usually happens is that the judge comes out to the bench and they handle a lot of evidentiary matters and motions before the trial even gets started. The lawyers will make any motions they have about any evidence or witnesses that should be disqualified, the judge will rule on what evidence is admissable, and your Seattle divorce trial will commence.
That begins with an opening statement from both sides - your attorneys take over and tell the judge what the evidence is going to show or prove. The opening statements are not evidence - they are your attorney's opinion on what the real evidence is going to show or prove in your particular case.
Evidence is only that which has been pre-submitted to the court and approved by the court, and after opening statements, you will be called to the stand to tell your story and go through your evidence a piece at a time.
You will be sworn in, and your questioning will begin. This is called direct testimony, as you are answering question directly asked in court by an attorney.
That might go a half hour, it might go for half a day, it might go for a full day, depending on how complicated your case is. But that will be your lawyer asking you questions and while they're asking you questions, they're also going to be showing you documents that are going to be entered into your trial as an exhibit.
So you might say the purpose of the testimony, is to present your evidence to the judge and tell your side of the story. You and your attorney will be presenting the evidence in the best light possible, to boost your case and claims, while your spouse's attorney will be doing the same for them.
After your testimony, the opposing divorce attorney has the right to cross examine you, and this is where they will try to trip you up, or make your evidence appear invalid.
For instance, let me give you a simple example. You've testified that you always take the kids to the dentist.
The opposing attorney may say, "Look here, isn't it true your husband takes those kids to the dentist Mrs. Jones?"
"No, you answer, "he never takes those kids to the dentist."
"Well could you please turn to exhibit 27, page 5 and look at that dentist record there and it says there, children at the dentist with their father. So that's not true is it, Mrs. Jones? Your husband does in fact take these children to the dentist."
So there's a simple example of how cross examination goes.
So you want to be really prepared and you want to be very careful that you've worked hard with your lawyer so you can anticipate where these problems are going to be. And you want to be very careful to tell the truth, because you don't want to look bad. You don't want to say "he never does". Some Seattle divorce lawyers will tell you to say - "to the best of my recollection I don't remember him ever taking the kids to the dentist" - then if they pull that record out you don't look like you're lying - you look like you were absent minded about the one time he did take them to the dentist.
So you and your witnesses go through this, then your spouse and their witnesses go through this. Once all the testimony and exhibits/evidence are submitted, it's time for the next phase of your Seattle Divorce trial, the closing arguments.
Seattle & Bellevue Family Law Attorneys and Seattle & Bellevue Divorce Attorneys
Two offices serving Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Mercer Island
Seattle Office:
DuBois Cary Law Group, PLLC
927 N. Northlake Way
Suite 210
Seattle WA 98103
Phone: [phone]
Bellevue Office:
DuBois Cary Law Group
1400 112th Ave. SE
Suite 100
Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: [phone]
Amanda DuBois, family law seattle, family law bellevue, famly law attorney seattle, family law attorney bellevue, divorce attorney seattle, divorce attorney bellevue, seattle divorce attorney, seattle family law attorney

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Thanks you so much for this video, forever grateful to dom for helping with mine