What is a Temporary Hearing?

The “temporary hearing” is unique to family law.  A temporary hearing is a court hearing that may take place shortly after a divorce, custody, or child support action is filed and served upon the other party.  The purpose of a temporary hearing is to take care of business while the parties litigate to the end of a case.  For example, in a divorce case, the temporary hearing decides where the parties live, where the children live, who has temporary custody and visitation, who pays which bills, and who pays what amount of child support. All counties and judges handle temporary hearings a bit differently. In most counties, including Cobb County, your case, once filed, is immediately assigned to a judge, and generally, only the assigned judge will conduct any hearing.  The time and date of a hearing depends upon the judge’s availability.  You may get a temporary hearing as soon as one week, or you may have to wait for several weeks or months.

The temporary hearing is intended to be relatively short.  The parties themselves may testify, and they may each call one other witness.  All other testimony is presented by affidavit.  Generally, judges will not entertain testimony concerning the conduct of the parties or the causes of separation, except in the context of awarding temporary alimony or temporary attorneys fees.  Children are rarely allowed to testify at a temporary.

After a temporary hearing, the judge will issue a temporary order.  This order governs the parties through the litigation until they reach a settlement or final trial.  The temporary hearing is important because it generally sets the tone for the remainder of the litigation.  If a party “loses” or makes a tactical misstep at the temporary hearing, that error is hard to shake as the litigation proceeds.  For example, if a judge determines that one parent should only have supervised visitation at a temporary hearing, that parent now has an uphill battle to enlarge his/her visitation rights later on.

A lawyer can advise you on preparation for a temporary hearing.  I generally advise my clients for a temporary hearing as I would in preparation for any court appearance:
1)  Always tell the truth.  Getting caught lying in court will haunt your case from inception to disposition.
2)  Conduct yourself at all times as though the judge, your mother, and your pastor are watching you.  This means no Mel Gibson-esque voicemails.
3)  Expect financial hardship.  Divorce is often financially devastating, particularly while the parties are trying to separate one expensive household into two heavily indebted households.