{"id":1451,"date":"2012-09-26T19:52:45","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T19:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2019-11-23T22:26:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T05:26:38","slug":"timely-disclosure-of-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/timely-disclosure-of-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Timely Disclosure of Evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many family court cases, the traditional rules of evidence are relaxed.\u00a0 See generally<\/em>\u00a0Rule 2, Arizona Rules of Family Law Procedure (“ARFLP”).\u00a0 Unless one party files a timely notice demanding strict compliance with the Arizona Rules of Evidence, all relevant evidence will generally be admitted in a court hearing, “provided, however, that the court shall exclude evidence

[based on] . . . failure to adequately and timely disclose same.”\u00a0 ARFLP Rule 2.B.2.<\/p>\n

ARFLP Rule 49 requires that the parties to a divorce or other family court case\u00a0seasonably\u00a0disclose to each other evidence that is relevant to the issues in the case, as outlined in the rule, whether or not the evidence will be used in court by the disclosing party.\u00a0 “Evidence” usually means documents or witness testimony.\u00a0\u00a0 As to documentary evidence, “disclosure” of such evidence generally includes providing copies of the documents to the opposing party or lawyer.\u00a0 As to witnesses, disclosure includes providing\u00a0the witnesses’ identity,\u00a0contact information, and a brief description of the topic(s) about which each witness will testify.<\/p>\n

The duty to disclose evidence begins “forty (40) days after the filing of a response to an initial petition.”\u00a0 ARFLP Rule 49.\u00a0 Generally, evidence must be disclosed sixty (60) days before the court trial or at such other time as the court orders.\u00a0 ARFLP Rule 49 G.\u00a0 Often, family court judges will order that all evidence be disclosed and exchanged thirty calendar\u00a0days before a final trial or five court days before a temporary orders hearing.<\/p>\n

Disclosure of evidence in advance of a trial or other court hearing is critical to avoid a “trial by ambush.”\u00a0 Each party\/attorney should have a fair and reasonable opportunity to prepare.\u00a0 As noted above, the penalty for failure to timely disclose evidence is exclusion of the evidence.\u00a0 See<\/em> ARFLP Rule 2.B.2.<\/p>\n

I recently went to court on a temporary orders hearing in a divorce case in which my client failed to provide me with any of the documents\/evidence he wished to use in court until less than five days before the evidentiary hearing.\u00a0 In that case, the judge had ordered that all witnesses and documents be disclosed\/exchanged at least five court days before the temporary orders hearing.\u00a0 I had advised my client of the disclosure deadline well in advance, but my client still failed to provide me his documentary evidence within the timeframe ordered by the court.<\/p>\n

Although I disclosed copies of the documents to the other lawyer as soon as I received them from my client, the disclosures were all admittedly late.\u00a0 I attempted to offer the documents into\u00a0evidence at the hearing, but the\u00a0other lawyer objected based on late disclosure, and the judge sustained the objection.\u00a0 I was not allowed to introduce any documents into evidence nor to use any witness other than my own client.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe the exclusion of the evidence seriously negatively impacted the presentation of my client’s position regarding\u00a0temporary orders.\u00a0 Unfortunately, my client did not appreciate the importance of making timely disclosure of evidence until it was too late–too late for the temporary orders hearing anyway.\u00a0 Hopefully the experience will help my client remember to make timely disclosure of evidence he wishes to use at the final divorce trial.<\/p>\n

Judges control their own courtrooms and rule on evidentiary objections however they please.\u00a0 A\u00a0 judge can choose to allow late-disclosed evidence if she wishes to do so.\u00a0 Whether the improper admission of late-disclosed evidence could form a basis for a successful appeal is beyond the scope of this post.<\/p>\n

As to child custody and parenting time issues, however, it is both common and proper for judges to admit evidence that is relevant to these issues whether or not the evidence\u00a0was timely disclosed.\u00a0 Judges have a duty to determine what custody and parenting time arrangements are in a child’s best interests, and a judge’s ability to decide what is best for a child would be compromised if the judge excluded evidence relevant to that issue.\u00a0 The child’s best interests override the policy favoring timely disclosure of evidence.\u00a0 When evidence relating to child custody and parenting time issues\u00a0is disclosed late, the court may deal with the late disclosure by imposing a monetary or other sanction but not by excluding the evidence.\u00a0 Hays v. Gama<\/em>, 67 P.3d 695, 700, 205 Ariz. 99 (2003).<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Scoresby Family Law \u2013 J. Kyle Scoresby, P.C. All rights reserved.

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In many family court cases, the traditional rules of evidence are relaxed.\u00a0 See generally\u00a0Rule 2, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[32,40,46,68,83,98],"class_list":["post-1451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divorce-process","tag-child-custody-2","tag-disclosure","tag-evidence","tag-parenting-time","tag-rules-of-evidence","tag-trials"],"yoast_head":"\nTimely Disclosure of Evidence - Arizona Divorce & Family Law Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scoresbyfamilylaw.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/timely-disclosure-of-evidence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Timely Disclosure of Evidence - 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