**Understanding Status Hearings in Court: A Comprehensive Guide**

The Meaning of a Status Hearing

A status hearing is a court proceeding at which a litigant, or their attorney, appears before a judge to report on the status of the case. There is a specific time and date set for a status hearing, and the litigants are given notice of the status hearing. Failure to appear at a status hearing can result in one side winning or losing the case. Status hearings are held on a variety of issues , including an update on: (i) pending discovery; (ii) the status of a case when a litigant has not been given an opportunity to submit evidence; (iii) ruling on discovery issues such as sanctions for the failure to comply with discovery requests; (iv) setting future hearing dates and deadlines; or (v) any other procedural issues that would require a resolution by the judge. Status hearings are somewhat of a misnomer because a litigator has the opportunity to speak with the judge on any number of issues, from a procedural request, such as extending a deadline, to evidentiary issues. The judge may decide to rule on an issue at the hearing, or may request briefings from the litigants prior to ruling.

The Purpose of a Status Hearing

A status hearing in court is an opportunity for everyone involved in the case to meet under the watchful eye of the judge or magistrate. Most often, a status hearing will focus on discovery and pre-trial preparations. In some cases, the judge may request that the parties come to court to help him or her get a better feel for how the case is progressing. As the title of the hearing suggests, one of the most important objectives of a status conference is to provide the judge with an update on the status of the case. This includes informing the court of the number of depositions that have been scheduled, when they will take place, whether there have been any requests for extra time to file motions and other pre-trial matters. All of these smaller issues combine into the bigger objective of keeping the court up to date on how the case is progressing.
Common status hearing objectives include: Because each family Law case is different, the objectives of each status hearing will vary greatly by case. By hearing, however, the aim is to inform the court of where the matter will be headed in the near future.

What Happens at a Status Hearing

The status hearing is the court’s way of making sure that cases are being pushed along. The Court is very concerned as to how quickly or slowly the parties are moving along in a case, and with the child support issues, the Court does not want any big delays. In fact, the court rules at least in Cook County are that for divorce or parentage cases, mediations are supposed to be held within 60 days of the parties filing a petition. Once the parties have filed a case, they have 45 days to exchange financial disclosures with one another. A sworn and signed financial affidavit is due from each party within 10 days after that. The Court will set these deadlines out in a pretrial order or at a status hearing.
In addition to the above, the Court is supposed to be determining at a status hearing whether an Agreed Order for Support can be put in place. In that order, the parties must agree on certain issues such as the amount of child support and whether the parties share parenting time equally, what will the respective parenting time allocation be, and whether one party will have the right to claim the tax exemption for the children. As part of approving a temporary Agreed Order for Support, the Court will give preliminary approval to divide up numerous other issues as well.
Each month, the Court expects a new status report to be filed by the attorney or party within 7 days of the status hearing. This way the Court knows how quickly the parties are moving and whether or not it will need to get more involved in terms of ordering trials or other types of hearings in the future.

The Legal Impact of a Status Hearing

A status hearing provides you the opportunity to present evidence and testimony to the judge in order to determine if there has been a substantial change in circumstances. Evidence at a status hearing is limited to the information provided at the temporary orders hearing or the final hearing. For example, the parties are usually required to submit tax returns to the Court pursuant to the rules of evidence. If additional tax returns are filed after the temporary orders hearing this will usually not be permitted unless there are extraordinary circumstances.
A status hearing is the best way to immediately change a child support obligation that is too high or too low. It is a fast, relatively inexpensive way to get your case before the court.
Changes in income may result in an increase or decrease in child support. In most cases, a variation in income of 15% can result in a modification of child support. A recent promotion resulting in a pay increase of 10-20% may allow you to apply to the court for an increase in child support payable to you and a decrease of child support payable by the other parent.
Once a decision is made during a status hearing the decision is enforceable by contempt. If the party who was found to have violated the divorce decree fails to comply with the court’s rulings during the status hearing the judge may either order the violator to spend several hours in jail or may even put them directly in jail without an alternative for purging their contempt, or he may order the violator to pay a fine to the court or to a charity.
The judge is likely to be more sympathetic to a person who has had a decrease in income, but each situation will be reviewed on a case by case basis by the court.

Preparing for a Status Hearing

The first and most important tip for preparing for a status hearing is to consult with your attorney in advance of the status date. You should know the deadline opinions will be turned into at the time of a status hearing and what is going to be discussed. If you don’t have any idea of what is going on with your case then it could be a situation where an important case date is missed. All parties should prepare answers to the following questions:

• What is due?
• What is the status of receiving them?
• What happens or what should happen if they are not received on time?
• What is the most important thing that needs to be done before the next court date or the next status hearing?

If there is discovery to be completed, the soonest date available for depositions should be discussed . You should also find out if the attorney you are working with has the time to schedule those depositions.
The parent that is the caretaker for the child should share with the other parent specific information about the child such as: current teachers, school schedules, therapists and/or doctors, and any other information that is pertinent. Make sure, if your attorney requests this information, that you have it ready sooner rather than later.
Going into a status hearing having a general idea of what the disposition of the case is going to be so that you can agree can alleviate the need for lengthy court dates and help you move forward.

How Status Hearings Differ from Other Types of Court Hearings

Where most hearings are situations where one party is actively seeking something from the Judge (i.e., asking for an order granting or denying something), a status hearing is merely intended to update the Judge on the status of the case. These hearings are typically held for motions, petitions or cases where multiple hearings have occurred previously. A clear and concise explanation of the status of the case is best given to the Judicial Officers in writing prior to the hearing. This often saves time & money and prevents redundancies. A condition of status calls for your attorney to provide a written report to the Judge and the other attorneys prior to each status. If your attorney fails to comply with this condition, s/he may be subject to a warning or to the Judge holding a hearing to determine whether or not to sanction him/her.
Unlike other hearings, an attorney should not expect to present evidence at a status hearing. Similarly, the Judge will not be likely to address other legal issues that "may" arise in the case unless it is absolutely necessary to the actions at issue (i.e., if an issue arises regarding child support and there is no child support order in place yet). Typically, the Judge will wait until your attorney has provided their status report before determining what any issues may be that the court may be able to assist with at that time.
While the Judge does not typically expect an attorney to prepare a lot of information for a status hearing where nothing is expected to happen, it is not unusual for the Judge to have explored some of the details of the case and want to address them with the parties. If you have an attorney, he or she should be prepared to have all of the financial information and documents available to answer any questions the Judge may have. If you do not have an attorney and you are representing yourself, it would be best to have the financial discovery organized that you have collected along with the receipts and invoices for anything that you are seeking from the other party (such as child support or spousal support/alimony).
Even in the situation where the parties were not able to agree to 1/2 of the attorney fees there are often times when the Judge will order a party to pay $500 towards his/her attorney fees to the requesting party. This is something that is typically spoken about among attorneys prior to the status hearing to determine if the case is headed for trial. Therefore, when the judge addresses the case at the status hearing, they have specific knowledge of what issues to address with the parties.

Myths Surrounding Status Hearings

Here are a few common misconceptions related to status hearings:
• Our attorney has to be physically present in Court. This is not true for most counties and courts. For example, Cook County allows an attorney to appear by phone for an initial appearance in any of its sixty Cook County Municipal District Courts, and closes twenty-one of its thirty Cook County Municipal District Courts to all newly filed misdemeanor cases. So it’s possible to avoid any in-person court appearances altogether if your case is in the right place, with a supportive judge and a background lawyer.
• A plaintiff needs to appear in person for every case status hearing. This is true only in limited circumstances; see above.
• If no one appears, a case is dismissed. This is not always true, at least not in Cook County or suburban courts.
• The judge must speak to the client if our lawyer shows up. This is not true everywhere, though some judges do say hello to clients and others may address a client directly. Some judges will talk with a client only if the attorneys ask for permission from the judge to speak with a client; others are more informal about that and just expect that the lawyer will report back to the client.
• If a hearing is scheduled at 9 a.m. and the judge doesn’t take the case until 10:30 a.m., then the case is supposed to take no less than 90 minutes. Not true in most cases, as long as the lawyer is ready to go as soon as his or her case is called. The judge can’t help it if there is a Chrysler hearing scheduled at 10 a.m. that takes one hour. Or if a judge decides to continue a case rather than call it (though there are a few judges that do not allow continuances on processing days).
• Even if we’re not there in person, we don’t have to call in, either. Not true. You need to make an effort to call in, even if the county allows you to appear telephonically. Otherwise, the clerk will assume your case is no longer an active case, and he may dismiss the case for status hearing non-appearance.
• The records clerk will take care of everything, so we don’t need to notify anyone we’ll be out. Not true. Unless we tell the Court Clerk’s officer that will be handling your case that we’re not coming, the clerk will assume we are. For example, the clerk may assume that we’ve gotten a continuance, or that we’re appearing by phone. The system isn’t flawless.

How the Status Hearing Affects Your Case Time

The frequency and outcome of status hearings in your case can significantly impact the overall duration of your case. Depending on whether you are the one to set the hearing, you may have a bigger or smaller influence on how often they occur.
If you are the party setting the status hearing, then you have full control over how often the courts will look at your case. In Cook County, at least, most cases must go to status within a month of being filed, and frequently within a week or two. If you set the status hearing every month (or even every week), then the court has to look at your case, usually for some motion or another, every month (or every week). This means that if your case goes to trial, you’re probably looking at trial in about a year. This is because cases take about six months to a year to get to trial, so if your case is resolving in a month, you are going to get a trial in six months.
If the other party is the one setting the status hearing, though, then you do not have control over the case. If they aren’t interested in having another hearing , you won’t necessarily get another one any time soon.
Additionally, if the other party is dragging their feet, then your case may extend far longer than it needs to. You file a motion to get visitation, but they set the status hearing – the hearing gets reset because they don’t show up, and then you have to wait until they set the new hearing. If the hearing gets reset again, you’re stuck.
Status hearings also have a tendency to slow down a case because there is no requirement that you file a motion every time you set a hearing. Conversely, there are also no rules that the court has to decide the motion at the status hearing.
That means that the entire purpose of the hearing, every month, is to try and get a decision on the affairs of the case. The judge wants to be able to get the issue off his or her plate, but this doesn’t always happen. If you file a single motion for 6 months, but your opponent makes sure to set a status hearing once a month, that’s six months that could have been spent hearing the motion.