When dealing with a divorce or custody battle, emergencies can arise that require immediate court intervention to protect your children’s well-being. In such cases, securing an emergency custody order—also known as an ex parte order—can be crucial. But how do you go about it? What steps should you take to ensure success? And what if you’re on the receiving end of such an order?  

At Mohajer Law Firm, we specialize in family law and are here to break down complex legal matters into simple, actionable steps. In this video, Sina Mohajer will walk you through the process of filing for an emergency court order, explain how to establish urgency, and outline what to expect in court.

If you need legal help with your child custody case, contact Mohajer Law Firm for a free consultation. We’re here to provide you with the knowledge and experience you need to do what’s best for your family and children.

Whether you need to protect your child or defend against an unfair claim, having the right knowledge is key. Let’s dive in and explore the essential steps to navigating emergency custody orders.

Transcript:

Whether you’re involved in a divorce case or a custody battle, you might find yourself in a situation where you might need to rush into court on an emergency basis to ensure the safety and well-being of your kids. If that’s the case, this video is for you, where we’re going to dive into what an emergency court order is, how to go about it, and how to increase your success rate.

Hi, I’m Sina Mohajer with Mohajer Law Firm. We specialize in family law, civil litigation, criminal defense, and personal injury.

In these mini-series, I like to dive and attack these complex issues and try to simplify them for our viewers in order to help you succeed with your case or just to answer your simple questions. So if you’re new to this channel, welcome. Hit that like button and don’t forget to subscribe so you’re always in the know of when new videos are being posted. And without further ado, I welcome you all to A Walk in the Park.

What Is an Emergency Custody Order

So what is an emergency court order? Naturally, if you ever are requesting any type of order from a court, you file what’s called a request for order, follow with the court, and you get a hearing date about two or three months down the road. But not every situation will warrant or allow you to have the patience and wait that long because we got the immediate need to protect these kids. In that type of situation, you can always file what’s called an emergency custody order or an ex parte.

Establish There Is an Immediate Danger

In those situations, you have to be able to establish to the court that there is an immediate danger, not only to the kids but to their well-being. Or perhaps it could be an immediate danger to something else. But that urgency level is very important to establish. Otherwise, your ex parte, or your emergency order, is going to be denied.

Step 1: Notice

So what do you need to do in order to take the first step? The first step for any emergency order is always notice. Notice is so important that anything you do in the litigation, period. But in this situation, it’s crucial because if you don’t give proper notice, then your request is going to be outright denied regardless if you can meet all the other requirements that a need is there. And these kids are in immediate danger. If you don’t give proper notice, the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to do anything.

So in order to give proper notice, you have to do it either by phone, email, text. You have to let the other party know that you’re moving forward to court the very next day. And that’s the beauty of these emergency hearings. You don’t schedule it two or three months down the road. When you file it, the next day the court will review it.

Step 2: Judge Reviews Filing

Normally in an L.A. county, there’s not going to be a hearing where you actually have to appear for these documents are going to be reviewed in chambers by the judge alone with no appearance by anybody else.

So it’s important that your documents are very specific and to the point. If for whatever reason, your documents are convoluted or confusing and it doesn’t allow the court the proper means to grant your request, they’re going to have to deny it.

Step 3: Judge Schedules Regular Hearing

Now, if the court denies it or grants it, nine out of ten times, they’re going to schedule it for a regular hearing. And that regular hearing is usually going to be about 21 days out. So it’s not going again really two months down the road, but is going to be pretty soon.

Step 4: Present Evidence at Hearing

At that hearing, the court’s going to want to hear from the other side. And it also gives you an opportunity to provide more information to the court. At that hearing, the court can rule either for you or against you. So it’s important how to prepare yourself for that hearing. It’s important to also gather your evidence. If you see any type of immediate danger to the children, for example, you find out the opposing parent or sorry, the co-parent of yours has a drinking problem or drug habit and they’ve been having visitation with the kids while being under the influence.

It’s important to gather this information as evidence to support your request to perhaps ask for monitored visits or some other means in order to ensure the safety and well-being of those kids.

Defending Against an Emergency Custody Order

If you’re defending against an emergency hearing, you’re going to be notified that the other side is going to go to court the next day. And part of that notice, you have to be told what is the basis for the emergency hearing. For example, stop all visitations due to mothers or fathers drinking habits. It’s going to give you some inclination as to what the purpose of the hearing is for. So it allows you to file a response.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is during this emergency stage for the respondent, the other person responding, to actually file their paperwork because like I said earlier, there is not going to be a court hearing at this emergency state. It’s only going to be the judge reviewing paperwork in chambers. So if there’s no response, there’s only one side story that I’m going to be looking at as a judge to determine if a temporary emergency order should be granted until we can get the parties into court.

But if you file a response, it’s going to give me a side of both sides, right? I’m going to be able to review what one parent says versus the other, to be able to establish whether an emergency order is warranted or they can just wait until the 21 days out when we scheduled the hearing date.

Questions About Your Child Custody Case

So if you have questions about your child custody case, I welcome you to contact our office to schedule a consultation. I’m happy to sit down with you one on one to discuss your case in more detail.

And if you’re new to this channel, welcome. Don’t forget to hit that like button. And also, don’t forget to subscribe so you’re always informed of any new videos being posted. And I welcome you all to A Walk in the Park.