Client access to case documents and information

DISCOVERY

Discovery is the process by which we ask the other side questions and seek out the necessary documents to gather facts important to your case.

The discovery process is often maligned and frequently misunderstood. Yet it is an important tool necessary to ensure that you and your attorney know what you need to know to make important decisions about your case. Your San Antonio family law attorney will use the discovery process to learn more about your estate, to discover facts surrounding your children, and to determine what your spouse believes is in their best interest. In the event that it becomes necessary, discovery will help you and your attorney prepare your case for trial.

Below are the different kinds of discovery.

Interrogatories: These are simply sets of written questions that must be answered under oath and within 30 days of receipt. The questions may inquire about specific issues in dispute, including asking about the opposition's legal theories and factual bases for their claims.

Requests for Disclosure: These are statutory questions that provide each side with background information of specific categories. Requests for Disclosure must be answered within 30 days. These requests are the same in every civil lawsuit, which include:

1. Full legal names of both parties to the lawsuit
2. Name, address, and phone number of potential parties
3. Legal theories and basic factual bases of responding party's claims or defenses
4. The amount and method of calculating economic damages
5. Name, address, and phone number of persons having knowledge of relevant facts, along with a statement of each person's connection to the case
6. Identify any testifying expert
   • Name, address, and phone number
   • Subject matter on which the expert will testify
   • Basic substance of the expert's mental impressions and opinions, along with a brief summary of the basis for them
   • When the expert is employed by the responding party:
     • All documents, tangible things, reports, models, or data compilations that have been provided to, reviewed by, or for the expert in anticipation of the expert's testimony; and
     • Expert's current resume and bibliography
     • Certain witness statements
7. Certain indemnity and insuring agreements
8. Certain settlement agreements
9. When alleging physical or mental injury and damages from the occurrence that is subject of the case, all medical records and bills or authorization permitting the disclosure of such medical records and bills
10. All medical records and bills obtained by the responding party by virtue of an authorization furnished by the requesting party

Requests for Production: These ask the litigant to produce documents and evidence that might apply to the case. In a divorce, you are entitled to inspect, photograph, and copy documents and tangible items that are within the scope of discovery. Requests for Production must be answered within 30 days. The documents might include:

• Bank account records
• Tax returns
• Credit card statements
• Deeds
• Loan documents
• Vehicle titles
• Pay stubs
• Stock options
• Pension and retirement plans
• Any other documents or items within the scope of discovery

Depositions: These allow your attorney to examine the witnesses before the actual trial takes place. The witness is placed under oath and must give a sworn testimony, which can be used during the actual trial. A deposition may be on written questions or on oral questions.

• Oral deposition - questions are asked directly to the witness, whose answers are recorded by a court reporter, audio or videotape, and may be completed over the phone. Oral depositions provide your attorney the opportunity to observe the demeanor of the witness while answering questions.
• Deposition on written questions - questions are included in the notice of intent to take deposition on written questions. The court reporter reads the questions to the witness and records the testimony. Deposition on written questions is an inexpensive way to authenticate documents and establish evidentiary facts.

Additional discovery measures may also be utilized if these methods are unable to establish critical evidence. The court may order both parties to file a sworn inventory and appraisement of all property; a physical or mental examination on one or both parties; a subpoena of records held by third parties, and even compel them to attend deposition.

Discovery Control Plan

Rule 190 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure compels every case to be "governed by a discovery control plan." Every petition for divorce must declare the level discovery is to be conducted under. There are three levels to choose from.

Level 1 - divorces not involving children where the value of the marital estate is between zero and $50,000. This level was designed to protect people with smaller cases from an opponent's overzealous discovery. The rules include:

• Each party is allotted a total of 6 hours to take oral depositions
  • The parties can agree to extend this limit up to 10 hours

• Each party can serve no more than 25 interrogatories
  • This excludes interrogatories asking a party only to identify or authenticate specific documents
• All discovery must be completed 30 days before the trial date

Level 2 - divorces which are not level 1 and do not have a discovery control plan making them level 3. The rules include:

• Each party has a maximum of 50 hours in oral depositions
  • If one side designates more than two experts, the opposing side gets an additional 6 hours of total deposition time for each additional expert
• Each party can serve no more than 25 interrogatories
  • This excludes interrogatories asking a party only to identify or authenticate specific documents
• All discovery must be completed 30 days before the trial date

Level 3 - divorces that are governed under a discovery control plan submitted by the parties and signed by the court. This plan must include:

• A trial date or trial scheduling conference date
• A discovery period during which all discovery must be conducted or all requests sent for the case or phase of a case
• Appropriate limits on the amount of discovery
• Deadlines for joining additional parties, amending or supplementing pleadings, and designating expert witnesses

The court can modify any discovery control plan and must allow additional discovery related to new information disclosed in the discovery process. Your San Antonio divorce attorney will explain which level your case should be conducted under.

Video Library

• Alimony in Texas
• Child Custody in Texas
• Discovery Process
• Divorce Documents
• Property and Debt Division
• Divorce Filing Requirements
• Temporary Orders
• Collaborative Law
• Mediation
• Litigation / Trial

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