Counter-Complaints and Sur-Replies
You start a divorce with a Complaint. The other party files an Answer and may also file a Counter-Complaint. You then have to file an Answer to the Counter-Complaint.
The person who files the Complaint is called the Plaintiff. The person who files the Answer is the Defendant. But when the Counter-Complaint is filed, the Plaintiff also becomes the Counter-Defendant and the Defendant also becomes the Counter-Plaintiff.
This all makes for cumbersome and confusing writing and speaking. A judge once interrupted me in court with “We just have two parties in this case. The Plaintiff and Defendant. Let’s keep it like that.”
In another case I filed a Motion. Opposing counsel filed an Opposition. I filed a Reply to the Opposition. Opposing counsel filed a Sur-Reply to my Reply. When we got to the hearing, the judge told us, “ We only have Motions, Oppositions and Replies in my courtroom. There are no such things as Sur-Replies.”
Good advice. Like everything in life, it pays to keep it simple in divorce court.
Related posts:
