What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA
I am at the tail end of a long divorce case. In the process, I got rid of my first counsel due to loss of job and not being able to afford them at the time. When I get on a regular payroll few months down the road, I hired another attorney, as I was not happy with the first one's services. My second attorney turned out to be a jackass and blamed me with not communicating with them due to a couple of missing letters from me and dumped me few days before my trial, which was few days ago.
I had the papers from my firs counsel to be sent to my second one. In the trial, few disputes came up that opposing side says they have submitted as evidence while I was working with my first attorney. But I am unable to find such evidence in the paperwork. I have less than a month to write an argument showing cause to my demands and disputes with the opposing side (solely financial) but without this evidence being present, I am unable to do it. There are two possibilities: 1. my first attorney did not make a through job copying my files and something went missing during the document transfer process (I give them the benefit of the doubt and say it was "accidental"); or 2. Opposing side did not really submit such document and just trying to throw me off the course.
Regardless which ever is the case, do I have a right to see the actually filed evidence in the court records, not the copies of it at the attorneys' offices ? If yes, what is the proper process of doing so ? The evidence I am talking about is some financial institution documents showing the status of some accounts, containing joint earnings but accounts being under separate names, contents of which was totally unknown to me, prior to the divorce proceedings. I need to make a lot of cross referencing to trace, where a sizable chunk of money disappeared into. So, this will require a day or tw of going thru these documents.
Any pointers will be appreciated.
Thanks
I am at the tail end of a long divorce case. In the process, I got rid of my first counsel due to loss of job and not being able to afford them at the time. When I get on a regular payroll few months down the road, I hired another attorney, as I was not happy with the first one's services. My second attorney turned out to be a jackass and blamed me with not communicating with them due to a couple of missing letters from me and dumped me few days before my trial, which was few days ago.
I had the papers from my firs counsel to be sent to my second one. In the trial, few disputes came up that opposing side says they have submitted as evidence while I was working with my first attorney. But I am unable to find such evidence in the paperwork. I have less than a month to write an argument showing cause to my demands and disputes with the opposing side (solely financial) but without this evidence being present, I am unable to do it. There are two possibilities: 1. my first attorney did not make a through job copying my files and something went missing during the document transfer process (I give them the benefit of the doubt and say it was "accidental"); or 2. Opposing side did not really submit such document and just trying to throw me off the course.
Regardless which ever is the case, do I have a right to see the actually filed evidence in the court records, not the copies of it at the attorneys' offices ? If yes, what is the proper process of doing so ? The evidence I am talking about is some financial institution documents showing the status of some accounts, containing joint earnings but accounts being under separate names, contents of which was totally unknown to me, prior to the divorce proceedings. I need to make a lot of cross referencing to trace, where a sizable chunk of money disappeared into. So, this will require a day or tw of going thru these documents.
Any pointers will be appreciated.
Thanks
