Now I'm Really Confused

[gim64]

We live in California

My husband and I are trying to "un-do" our Legal Separation. Yesterday I asked whether I needed to make a Motion to Vacate the Judgement on our case, or could I just file a "Request for Dismissal" of the original petition.

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE responsed:

A motion to vacate requires specific grounds, and
is a long, difficult procedure in terms of the
paperwork involved.

A request for dismissal of the original petition
accomplishes the task that you want, and is a single
court form, with boxes to check. It's simple, fast, and
does the trick. You want form # 982A5 ("Request for
Dismissal"). Check the box that says Family Law, and the
one that says "With Prejudice". Fill in the other
proper "blanks", file it, and it's all over. You're back
to the way things were prior to your legal separation.

That sounded good to me so I filled out the form #982A5 and took it to the clerk at the family court. First she said I had to make it "without prejudice" so we "whited" that out.

Then she went and pulled our file and said "since we already had a judgement entered in the case, we would have to do a "Motion to Vacate". I asked her if she was sure so she went and asked her boss who agreed with her.

So I thanked her, picked up my papers and told her I would be back tomorrow.

Does it make a difference if the court filed its "Notice of Entry of Judgement". They did that on Feb 22, 1999.

What should I tell her tomorrow, (or whenever I'm prepared to go back)?

Thank you again for your help. gim64

[Edited by gim64 on 01-31-2001 at 07:16 PM]

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

the court filed its "Notice of Entry of Judgement". They did that on Feb 22, 1999.

My response:

Okay. Had I known the above information, I would have told you that you must file a Motion to Vacate the judgment.

Well, like I said, a Motion to Vacate is a complicated procedure, so I would suggest (if money is a problem) that you look in your Yellow Pages for a Paralegal Service and have them prepare the Motion for you. It'll be a lot cheaper than having an attorney prepare the same thing.

Good luck to you.

IAAL