Complicated Divorce Rules Criticized by California Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court recently decided to ease the laws for divorces in Contra Costa courts, which have been accused of differentiating too far from state divorce law and not giving people fair shakes during divorce cases. Contra Costa is one of nine counties located in the San Francisco-Oakland Bay area.

A Contra Costa Times story detailed the divorce case of Jeffrey Elkins, a man who was so disgruntled with the way the local courts handled his divorce that he took his complaint to the state Supreme Court.

Until this case, Contra Costa divorce courts had adhered to a Trial Scheduling Order which basically attempts to speed up divorce trials and keep the courts from getting too bogged down. As a result of the Scheduling Order, Elkins and his wife were only allowed to provide written declarations about the facts in their case. If Elkins wanted to submit oral testimony as evidence, he would have to first provide written testimony explaining the oral testimony. Elkins also learned that certain information, like emails and documents about his salary, could not be submitted as evidence.

Elkins claims that his divorce trial lasted about five minutes. He was thus quite miffed when a judge authorized the divorce two weeks later. No one testified in the case, and Elkins was not cross-examined by his wife's divorce attorney or allowed to do so himself because direct testimony was prohibited under the Contra Costa Trial Scheduling Order. Further, he was not allowed to ask the judge how child support payments were determined.

Upon appeal, state Supreme Court ruled that the Contra Costa County Superior Court violated state law with a rule that prohibited people in divorce trials from presenting oral testimony. The ruling means a new divorce trial for Jeffrey Elkins. It also means trial courts in California counties with local rules similar to Contra Costa's will have to change the way they do business. In January, as the Elkins case was pending, Contra Costa County Superior Court changed its local procedure to allow oral testimony, in addition to written declarations, for requesting parties.

On a personal level, Elkins said he feels vindicated by the Supreme Court's decision. "Divorce is a tough thing to go through," said Elkins, a business consultant, whose divorce proceedings started in 2001. "I'm just hoping I can now go back to court to ... come up with a solution and finally get this thing behind us."