Oh George, but here it is almost 3:00 pm my time and I have not even put up my first post of the day. I apologize to those of ya'll that had already started callin' the hospitals to check on me. Nope, I am fine, just been busy. I have fallen way way behind in the things I needed to get on top of here at the office, and thought today was gonna be the day I would have to get a lot of it done, but it has not turned out that way.
The day began on a strange note, beginning yesterday, when my friend Matt mentioned something about having court this morning when one of the district judges would be sittin' in our town. Now I have perviously explained at how they each only make one appearance in our town a month, so I was surprised to know that the court was settin' here this mornin' and I had nothin' pendin' 'fore that court on my calendar. I do not remember the last time one of the judges was sittin' here on a day when I had nothin' set before the court, so I was almost sure I had overlooked somethin' or somethin' had gotten lost in the mail.
I dropped by the court just prior to the beginnin' of proceedin's to take a look at the day's docket. It was indeed short and my name only appeared next to one case at the top of the docket. I instantly recalled that case, a child protective services matter, and I remembered it had been dropeed after my client had been returned to her mother. I was appointed to represent the child. OK, I was off the hook and was headin' back to the office to deal with all this work I haven't gotten to here of late. Oops, it is still once a month court day and things just don't work that way.
As I was leavin' to come back to the office this guy taps me on the shoulder and says, "My wife's attorney said I might should talk to you." This is the other party in Matt's case, and they are there for a hearing on temporary orders. It seems that Matt could not get the guy to agree to the temporary orders, so advised the man he was fixin' to be called to a hearin' in front of the judge and that he might ought to consult with an attorney. An hour or so in consultation and review of the proposed temporary order and I was able to negotiate a settlement. The Orders are so statutorily standardized that there is very little that can be argued, but the amounts of support seem quite high to someone who has little knowledge of the law. Uh, sorry, but $150 a month child support is not longer the norm, it is a set percentage of your income. Health insurance is required. The visitation schedule is written in stone. I thought they were tryin' to get by with somethin' with not restrictin' the residency requirement and thought all the supposedly reasonable injunctions, and they are all very reasonable, should be mutual as to both parties. Those changes were made as were some negotiations when payments were to begin so that my client could make provisions to set up his new household, and all the parties agreed it was fair and we got the judge to approve the agreement.
Of course, this all took time. Time away from the office and all these little nit-picky things that have to get done ... and pile up faster than tumbleweeds on a barbed wire fence. My biggest problem right now is suppressin' my body's desire for a long nap. You have fun readin' this, I will be thinkin' on that nap.
Posted by notGeorge at November 12, 2003 02:50 PM