Why Do Family Court Cases Take So Long? 3 Common Delay Tactics in California

What are the top three reasons why people intentionally cause delays in California family court? Well, battle of attrition is one. If you can delay the proceeding, if you can drain somebody financially, emotionally, over the course of years — up to five years — you may win by default. Some people also just have a hard time ending the marriage, even though they want to end the marriage. Or maybe they don't. So once it's over, it's over, and they know that. So they keep the other side on the hook. To delay money orders — that's an important aspect of this. I know I'm going to have to pay this. I know the court's going to order that. So if I can delay the hearing, and request an evidentiary hearing, and I need to have my forensic expert deal with this — that's one good way to delay the inevitable. Now, those orders might be retroactive. They might be able to get money all the way back. But then you'll just have, essentially, a loan — an interest-free loan — because you haven't paid anything, and then you'll pay it off in arrears with no interest. So quite frankly, that's another reason. Maintaining the status quo. What does that mean? That means that whatever the order is today, if it's favorable to you, or you think it's favorable to you, and you can delay changing that order as long as possible, it might help you. What do I mean? Let's talk about a restraining order. A temporary restraining order is temporary, right? It should be determined within 21 to 25 days. But if it's delayed, if there's continuances, if we request an evidentiary hearing multiple days — that temporary remains the status quo. Somebody is under a temporary restraining order, a de facto permanent. What about a custody order? I get an interim order, a temporary order for custody that is favorable to my client. Would it make sense to have a hearing the next week, where that might be less favorable? Or would it make sense to delay it, so that the new status quo — the child has become accustomed to this temporary order — that's what's in their best interest? These are the types of things that cause delay tactics all the time in California family court.