Back-dating an Objection???

[nhguy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Hampshire

This is a Child-Custody case.

My attorney filed a motion in the 18th of March. On the 30th of March, he received a faxed letter from opposing counsel threatening to file a motion to Compel if I refused to sign a certain release. He promptly told her I would not be signing the release in question.

On the 31st, his office received an Objection to the Motion we had filed on the 18th. I called the court and verified that it was hand-delivered to them and timestamped the 30th. Both attorneys are in the same town and mail always arrives in one day.

What is weird about this, is that in the Objection, she asks in the Prayers section that the court order me to sign this release. The cover letter and the Certificate of Service were both dated the 27th.

Why would she fax a letter threatening to file a motion to compel if I don't sign the release if she had already filed an objection asking the court for the same relief 4 days earlier? In spite of our stated refusal to sign, she has filed nothing else.

I am very suspicious that she backdated the Objection to make sure it fell within the 10 day window for objections, and had it hand-delivered to the court.

I am aware of an attorney in New Hampshire that was disbarred for backdating an Objection, but my attorney is a little reluctant to file a motion for sanctions and referral to the disciplinary committee. I suspect it's a lawyer protecting lawyer thing.

What should I do?

[Ronin]

There does not appear to be anything irregular here. The attorney signed and dated their response on the 27th, sat on it for a couple of days, and notified your attorney on the 30th of their intent to file unless you consented to sign. When your attorney promptly responded no, they promptly walked it to court and filed it the same day.

The date on the motion is not important when tolling any time limits. Its the date that the document is actually filed in the court. So backdating has no value in this regard. I suspect your facts are most likely incorrect if you believe an attorney was disbarred for 'backdating an objection'.

[nhguy]

Originally Posted by Ronin

There does not appear to be anything irregular here. The attorney signed and dated their response on the 27th, sat on it for a couple of days, and notified your attorney on the 30th of their intent to file unless you consented to sign. When your attorney promptly responded no, they promptly walked it to court and filed it the same day.

The date on the motion is not important when tolling any time limits. Its the date that the document is actually filed in the court. So backdating has no value in this regard. I suspect your facts are most likely incorrect if you believe an attorney was disbarred for 'backdating an objection'.

Thanks for the response. So the Certificate of Service that swears that you mailed something on that very day is not important?

[nhguy]

Originally Posted by Ronin

I suspect your facts are most likely incorrect if you believe an attorney was disbarred for 'backdating an objection'.

Ok, so the Certificate of Service is pretty much meaningless then I guess...