The Temporary Order
The first hearing in an Ohio divorce case is called a “Temporary Order Hearing.” We file for a divorce and the court will automatically assign, upon our request, a hearing date for temporary orders that will usually be about 30-40 days assigned after we file.
The temporary orders hearing is a hearing which the client does have to attend, but typically does not have to speak. Often, by “attending” I mean that the client is going to be in a conference room waiting for the lawyers to discuss in a private office of the magistrate, the needs of the client between that point in time to the final trial.
A temporary order hearing, if resolved by agreement, would consist of who is going to pay what bills of the marriage in the interim until the final trial, who is going to pay spousal and child support, and how much, is anybody going to contribute expert fees or attorney’s fees. If those items can be agreed upon in the magistrate’s office, then it will be written up as such. If it cannot be agreed upon, then the attorneys and the clients will leave the court and provide the magistrate written information for the magistrate to determine, and the hearing is basically just a “written hearing,” The magistrate will review the omissions and provide to counsel maybe a few weeks later, an order.
The Pre-Trial Hearing
The second hearing would be the pre-trial, which would be in front of the judge, not the magistrate. This allows the judge to become acquainted with the case. At this point the parties are going to be in a courtroom, but they are typically not going to be speaking.
This is a very brief hearing; it usually doesn’t take more than twenty minutes. The court will learn about the case from the lawyers, will not make any orders at that point, and will possibly give some advice to the attorneys on some points that are in disagreement.
The Status Conference Hearing
After that there will be a status conference hearing a few months later, if the case has not settled, to give the judge more information, and at that point, typically, a trial will be scheduled. Typically, the trial date is often somewhere between 10 months to 12 months from the date of the original filing. The temporary order from the first hearing stay in effect until the trial.