• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Is it ok for me to sign a Continunce letter for someone with their Consent?

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Analog Man

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana

My brother is currently going through a divorce and must appear in court which happens to conflict with his work schedule as he is a boat captain currently working offshore and wont be returning until after upcoming court date.
His last option is to send an order for continuance to the court but due to his location is physically unable to do so. He has asked me to type the letter (Which he already emailed me), sign his signature, and mail for him.

My question: is this legally ok to sign his signature even with his consent? And what other implications might there be for me if I do this for him? I'm aware that he must also send a copy of the continuance to the plaintiff (soon to be ex-wife and her lawyer)

Advise is greatly apprecciated
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
No, you can't do that. What he can do is give you power of attorney, and then what you do is sign it:

John Q. Divorcee, by Analog Man, his attorney in fact.

Of course, you'll have to inquire with the court as to whether they will accept that power. You can also ask the court if they will accept a fax.

What he should have is an ACTUAL attorney to handle this.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What he should have is an ACTUAL attorney to handle this.
Considering that filing documents with the court would be considered practicing law, and considering that it would be unlawful for our OP to practice law, this is the ONLY thing we should be advising the OP to do. A power of attorney doesn't allow one to represent another in legal matters.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
Considering that filing documents with the court would be considered practicing law, and considering that it would be unlawful for our OP to practice law, this is the ONLY thing we should be advising the OP to do. A power of attorney doesn't allow one to represent another in legal matters.
In Louisiana I'm fairly certain that this is NOT unauthorized practice of the law and the POA can indeed mandate signatures on judicial matters.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
In Louisiana I'm fairly certain that this is NOT unauthorized practice of the law and the POA can indeed mandate signatures on judicial matters.
The OP is talking about filing a motion with the court on behalf of another person...I'm not sure how it would be considered anything else.
 

Paul84

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Louisiana

My brother is currently going through a divorce and must appear in court which happens to conflict with his work schedule as he is a boat captain currently working offshore and wont be returning until after upcoming court date.
His last option is to send an order for continuance to the court but due to his location is physically unable to do so. He has asked me to type the letter (Which he already emailed me), sign his signature, and mail for him.

My question: is this legally ok to sign his signature even with his consent? And what other implications might there be for me if I do this for him? I'm aware that he must also send a copy of the continuance to the plaintiff (soon to be ex-wife and her lawyer)

Advise is greatly apprecciated
If there's still time and if it's physically possible, have your brother send an email to the other party's attorney to see if they agree to a continuance, or if not, to explain why not. Then see if the judge's chambers or anyone at the court has email (they must), and have your brother send an email directly to the judge's chambers (or to the Court personnel with a request for forwarding) briefly explaining his attempt to get agreement on the continuance, the result, and his situation on a boat. A request for a continuance is a minor matter. I think under the Clinton administration, there was a law about the force of digital signatures being equivalent to written ones (except perhaps when notaries are required). You could google that.

In my case as a pro se, on one or two occasions I have had to email the judge's chambers directly (at a federal court), and the judge was fine with that, even commenting on the email in his order. For my case, during it's 3+ years, I have not yet physically appeared in court because it is thousands of miles from where I live overseas.

If the boat has no email access, I would call the other side's attorney for your brother (or have your brother call directly--again if possible, from his boat), explain the situation, and ask if the other side's lawyer will contact the court for a continuance. If s/he won't, then go ahead and follow the above steps explaining everything--briefly to the court. When there's no case precedent, a judge asks what would a reasonable person do. What I've described is reasonable. A "motion" is just a form of request--put the request into the form of a letter or email, and don't be afraid of others calling that "unlicensed practicing of law". Let common sense prevail. If nothing else, and if the judge ignores it, your brother can point to the attempts after the fact as a mitigating factor for his failure to appear. Judges are humans, after all, and--like most people--don't approve of pettifoggery (= quibbling over trifles).
 
Last edited:

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
If there's still time and if it's physically possible, have your brother send an email to the other party's attorney to see if they agree to a continuance, or if not, to explain why not. Then see if the judge's chambers or anyone at the court has email (they must), and have your brother send an email directly to the judge's chambers (or to the Court personnel with a request for forwarding) briefly explaining his attempt to get agreement on the continuance, the result, and his situation on a boat. A request for a continuance is a minor matter. I think under the Clinton administration, there was a law about the force of digital signatures being equivalent to written ones (except perhaps when notaries are required). You could google that.

In my case as a pro se, on one or two occasions I have had to email the judge's chambers directly (at a federal court), and the judge was fine with that, even commenting on the email in his order. For my case, during it's 3+ years, I have not yet physically appeared in court because it is thousands of miles from where I live overseas.

If the boat has no email access, I would call the other side's attorney for your brother (or have your brother call directly--again if possible, from his boat), explain the situation, and ask if the other side's lawyer will contact the court for a continuance. If s/he won't, then go ahead and follow the above steps explaining everything--briefly to the court. When there's no case precedent, a judge asks what would a reasonable person do. What I've described is reasonable. A "motion" is just a form of request--put the request into the form of a letter or email, and don't be afraid of others calling that "unlicensed practicing of law". Let common sense prevail. If nothing else, and if the judge ignores it, your brother can point to the attempts after the fact as a mitigating factor for his failure to appear. Judges are humans, after all.
In other words, you are suggesting that UPL isn't really a big deal? :rolleyes::rolleyes:
 

quincy

Senior Member
... What I've described is reasonable. What others call "unlicensed practicing of law" is fear mongering.
Not really, Paul84. What others call unlicensed practice of law is not "fear mongering." On this forum we call it "explaining the law." We do not encourage posters to violate it.

What you describe as reasonable can only work with permission of the court.
 
Last edited:

Ohiogal

Queen Bee
No, you can't do that. What he can do is give you power of attorney, and then what you do is sign it:

John Q. Divorcee, by Analog Man, his attorney in fact.

Of course, you'll have to inquire with the court as to whether they will accept that power. You can also ask the court if they will accept a fax.

What he should have is an ACTUAL attorney to handle this.
Wrong. That would be practicing law. OP cannot sign for a pro se litigant regardless of whether they have a POA.
 

Paul84

Member
Wrong. That would be practicing law. OP cannot sign for a pro se litigant regardless of whether they have a POA.
What I'm saying, is: "Use common sense." If the guy is incommunicado, he can have the OP contact the other side's attorney or the court or the judge's office (i.e. chambers) to explain the situation. The court is not going to sanction him or the OP ... period. What's he supposed to do - hire an attorney from the boat?

To the OP's original question, about signing anything as if purporting to sign for the brother, no, the OP should not do that, but should only say or write, "I'm sending this on my brother's behalf, with his consent (if the OP has it)" and whatever else is true about the situation. And sign in the OP's own name as you ordinarily do with an email, "Sincerely".

Please present any case where a court has ever sanctioned someone for following reasonable practices in the event of extreme circumstances with regard to court procedure.
 
Last edited:

quincy

Senior Member
What I'm saying, is: "Use common sense." If the guy is incommunicado, he can have his sister contact the other side's attorney or the court or the judge's office (i.e. chambers) to explain the situation. The court is not going to sanction him or his sister ... period. What's he supposed to do - hire an attorney from the boat?

Please present any case where a court has ever sanctioned someone for following reasonable practices in the event of extreme circumstances with regard to court procedure.
Paul84, Analog Man asked if he could sign a continuance motion/letter for his brother. The answer to that is "no," he cannot - not without violating the law.

If the boat captain/brother knew he was going to be gone, he should have made arrangements with an attorney prior to leaving. He can try to contact one to handle the continuance for him now. He apparently was able to send Analog Man an email. The brother can send the same thing to his attorney or he can send it to the other party's attorney or he can contact the court.

But Analog Man cannot act for his brother. The brother cannot have Analog Man sign for him or file any motion for him. Analog Man is not an attorney.

Once again, we do not advise people on this forum to violate laws. Period. This whether they will get "caught" violating the law or whether they get into trouble for violating the law.
 
Last edited:

Paul84

Member
Paul84, Analog Man asked if he could sign a continuance motion/letter for his brother. The answer to that is "no," he cannot - not without violating the law.

If the boat captain/brother knew he was going to be gone, he should have made arrangements with an attorney prior to leaving. He can try to contact one to handle the continuance for him now. He apparently was able to send Analog Man an email. The brother can send the same thing to his attorney or he can send it to the other party's attorney or he can contact the court.

But Analog Man cannot act for his brother. The brother cannot have Analog Man sign for him or file any motion for him. Analog Man is not an attorney.

Once again, we do not advise people on this forum to violate laws. Period. This whether they will get "caught" violating the law or whether they get into trouble for violating the law.
Quincy,
I think we agree - all except on the point of the need to bring an attorney into this. If the captain can contact an attorney from the boat, he can certainly do all the things I mentioned in my original post. And that should suffice. No judge is going to quibble that the boat captain didn't file a proper motion from the boat.

If there is any reason to believe that the captain knew about the date of the hearing before getting on the boat, there are potentially a number of extenuating circumstances for him to explain why he did not take action before that point to file "a proper motion", whatever that is supposed to be.

Is there any (case) law saying a pro-se litigant has to hire an attorney to file a motion if s/he is temporarily unable to do so or knows that this temporary inability will occur? I was on a boat and camping for two weeks during the first year of my case. I wrote a letter to let the magistrate and the opposing attorney know this in advance. Not everyone can, and does, plan ahead.
 
Last edited:

quincy

Senior Member
Quincy,
I think we agree - all except on the point of the need to bring an attorney into this. If the captain can contact an attorney from the boat, he can certainly do all the things I mentioned in my original post. And that should suffice. No judge is going to quibble that the boat captain didn't file a proper motion from the boat.

If there is any reason to believe that the captain knew about the date of the hearing before getting on the boat, there are potentially a number of extenuating circumstances for him to explain why he did not take action before that point to file "a proper motion", whatever that is supposed to be.

Is there any (case) law saying a pro-se litigant has to hire an attorney to file a motion if s/he is temporarily unable to do so or knows that this temporary inability will occur? I was on a boat incommunicado for a week during the first year of my case. As I am cautious, I let the court and the opposing attorney know this in advance. Not everyone can and does plan ahead.
There is a law that says a pro-se litigant cannot have a non-lawyer act on his behalf.

The pro-se litigant can act on his own behalf, though, and certainly if the boat captain brother was able to contact Analog Man, he could have contacted the other party's attorney. The boat captain brother does not need to file a "proper motion." He can simply advise the other party's attorney and the court that he is unable to attend the hearing and that he requests a continuance. He cannot have Analog Man do this for him.

You are right that not everyone plans ahead. And, if the boat captain finds the hearing goes on without him because he did not plan ahead, that is a mistake he will probably only make once.

I will look for supporting case law when I have the opportunity. But the answer to Analog Man's question remains the same. He would be practicing law without a license if he did what his boat captain brother wants him to do.

As a note: What worked for you was different. You were the pro-se litigant and you contacted the court and the other party. That is different than what is being described here. Analog Man is not a party to this case.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top