While divorce and other family law matters are still expensive. The advent of electronic filing (internet) and remote appearances ( think Zoom) have reduced the costs in most cases. Unfortunately the length of time it takes to put a non-emergency matter before the court is still six to twelve weeks and if your matter is not a domestic violence restraining order or custody dispute it could be heard at the end of the day or another day. (I don’t charge for waiting remotely on my computer for the court to call the case if I can work on other matters instead). If even this is unpalatable, I suggest you and your spouse or other parent try harder in mediation or consultation with myself or another attorney and find out what the strengths and weaknesses of your respective positions are and try to settle the case.
Sometimes the parties are so far apart, there is no choice except litigation.
If this is the case, then depending on the status of the litigation, it may be beneficial to exercise discretion as to where to file your case. Currently, cases may be filed in the local Family Law Court Houses or downtown L.A. (Los Angeles). On a more limited basis, cases may be moved by requesting a change in the assigned Bench Officer (Normally, this will incur additional paid lawyer time and costs which may, or may not, be justified depending on your case).
