Now, in addition to samples and instructions, you can benefit from Family Law videos,  a series of video screencasts explaining and demonstrating how to fill out the forms necessary for divorce, paternity, custody, and support cases. The court’s “Video Room” has offered videos on a variety of topics for years. But this month, a truly impressive set of family law videos was introduced. Each form is explained and the viewer can pause the presentation at any time to fill out forms as they follow along.

The information in these videos should mostly apply throughout California, but be sure to check with your court to see if there are additional forms or procedures in your county.

You can find the new videos, as well as a wealth of other family law and legal information. by visiting the “Learn About the Law” section of our website.

A. Dear Anne,

Unfortunately it sounds like you still have a lot of work to do to get the divorce done. Before you can really get started, you will need to get your husband served. And before you can do that, you will need copies of your paperwork.

You can get copies of all the paperwork you have filed by visiting the courthouse where you filed them. In Sacramento, for family law cases, that is the William R. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse (3341 Power Inn Road). You will need to serve him with:

• A copy of ALL the papers you filed with the court (except for any fee waiver papers you may have filed — these are confidential).
• A blank Response — Marriage (Form FL-120)
• If you had kids, you would also need to serve a blank Declaration Under Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) (Form FL-105/GC-120).
• Declaration of Disclosure (Form FL-140) – you must serve this within 60 days, so if you can, it will save time to serve it now.

Luckily, if he’s incarcerated in California, he should be relatively easy to find and serve. If he is in a county jail, call the county sheriff to find the phone number and address. If he is in state prison, you can find him using the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Inmate Locator. If he’s in federal prison, use the Federal Bureau of Prison's Inmate Locator database.

Once you know where he is located, call the facility and ask who on their staff is assigned to serve the documents on prisoners. Send the following to that person:

• two copies of all documents
• the Proof of Service form
• a self-addressed stamped envelope
• a cover letter asking that your husband be personally served and that the “Proof of Service” be completed and sent back to you.

If you have a hearing date (unlikely this early in the case), tell them the date, department, and time of the hearing.

Once they serve your husband, they will return the signed Proof of Service in the self-addressed stamped envelope, and you can file it in court.

After that, your next step depends on what your husband does. Once he’s served, he has 30 days to file a written response. If he does not, you can ask the court for a default judgment. If he does, the process is a bit different.

You can find out more by using the excellent California Courts Self-Help site’s divorce section. It has step-by-step instructions for each phase of the case, and links to the forms you will need. You may also be interested in the self-help book How to Do Your Own Divorce in California, which has instructions, samples, and related information about the process.

Best of luck!

Do you have a question for the County Law Librarian? Just email sacpress@saclaw.org. If your question is selected your answer will appear in next Thursday's column. Even if your question isn't selected, though, I will still respond within two weeks.

Coral Henning, Director
@coralh & @saclawlibrarian
www.saclaw.org

You can find the video on our “Self Help Audios and Videos” page at http://www.saclaw.org/pages/selfhelp_video.aspx , as well as on our “Collecting and Resisting Judgments” page at http://www.saclaw.org/pages/lawsuits-judgments-topic.aspx .  Material developed for the class, including Step-by-Step Guides with instructions and sample forms for all of the above-named legal procedures, can also be found on our “Collecting and Resisting Judgments” page at http://www.saclaw.org/pages/lawsuits-judgments-topic.aspx#research .

Georgette

A. Thank you very much for your kind words about the Civil Self-Help Center, Georgette! For those of you that don’t know, the Sacramento County Public Law Library’s Civil Self-Help Center (CSHC) is intended to assist unrepresented persons who have chosen to pursue or defend a civil lawsuit in the Sacramento Superior Court. The CSHC provides workshops and individual assistance with a variety of civil legal issues. To receive a one-on-one appointment, you must be present in the Law Library at 8:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, to be entered into a random drawing to determine the order in which we evaluate your case. If an appointment is appropriate, it will be made for later in that day.

Back to your problem, Georgette--if an opposing party fails to respond to your Form or Special Interrogatories, or a Request for Production, you may file a “Motion to Compel” a response. Before filing your motion, however, the California Code of Civil Procedure (CCP) § 2016.040 requires you to try and “meet and confer” with the opposing counsel or self-represented party. This typically means sending a letter that informs the opposing counsel or self-represented party that the deadline to respond has passed, and providing him or her a reasonable time to respond, after which you would file a motion to compel responses. A reasonable time could be two weeks, or longer if the interrogatories or request for production is or are particularly complicated. The “meet and confer” requirement is your opportunity to demonstrate to the court that you are making a “reasonable and good faith attempt at an informal resolution.” CCP § 2016.040.

Since there are no pre-printed Judicial Council forms for motions to compel responses, you must draft them yourself. Motions must be typed on 28-line pleading paper and follow a specific format. Luckily, we have a Step-by-Step Guide on our website with a down-loadable template of the motion that complies with all of the court’s formatting rules!

The first step is to select the date of the hearing on your motion. You can select whatever date is convenient for you as long as it meets two very important statutory requirements: the filing deadline and the service deadline. Your Motion to Compel Responses must be filed with the court at least sixteen court days before the hearing. CCP § 1005. Court days are Monday through Friday, excluding court holidays.

Prior to filing the motion with the court, all other attorneys or self-represented parties must be served with a copy of the motion. This means that someone over the age of 18 who is not a party in the case must either personally deliver or mail (by first class) the attorney for the party or the self-represented party a copy of the motion and related documents.

If the motion is personally served, the service must be at least sixteen court days prior to the date of the motion, the same as the minimum filing deadline. If the motion is served by first-class mail additional time is added, depending on where the mail originates and where it is sent. CCP §1005. If the documents are mailed from California to California, five calendar days are added after the sixteen court days. Calendar days include weekends and holidays, but if the final day lands on a weekend or holiday, it is rolled over to the next court day. Luckily, our Step-by-Step Guide includes a calendar and detailed instructions on how to calculate court and calendar days to meet the filing and service deadlines.

At this time there is a $60 filing fee for filing a motion, unless your fees were waived. Current fees are available on the Sacramento County Superior Court’s website.

If opposing counsel or self-represented party opposes your motion, he or she may serve and file an opposition at least nine court days prior to your motion date. No fee is required to file an opposition. You may choose to serve and file a reply to the opposition at least five court days prior to the motion. No fee is required to file a reply.

If you still need help even after reading the Step-by-Step Guide, Georgette, please feel free to come to the Law Library at 8:25 a.m. for the lottery for CSHC appointments. We’d be happy to help you!

Do you have a question for the County Law Librarian? Just email sacpress@saclaw.org. If your question is selected your answer will appear in next Thursday's column. Even if your question isn't selected, though, I will still respond within two weeks.

Coral Henning, Director
@coralh & @saclawlibrarian
www.saclaw.org

All claims for this property must be filed on or before June 25, 2013, with the City of Sacramento. Otherwise, it becomes property of the city on June 26, 2013. For more information, see http://www.cityofsacramento.org/finance/unclaimedproperty.cfm.

Of course, each motion will be different, and before you use the guide, you will need to research the law applying to your particular facts. But hopefully the guide will make it easier to prepare your motion and get it on calendar.

-Deborah

A. Since this is a two-part question, let’s start with the first order of business: determining if your van is considered a commercial vehicle. First, check your vehicle’s registration to see whether it’s registered as ‘automobile’ or ‘commercial.’ Depending on the make, model, and features of your van, the DMV may consider it ‘commercial’ regardless of whether you’re using it as a passenger car or a business car. If it’s registered as ‘automobile’ then it’s your choice whether to register it as a ‘commercial’ (a designation that comes with special plates, additional fees, and additional parking options). Because this is a law librarian column and not that of someone authorized to interpret the law, I’ll provide you with California’s definitions of a commercial vehicle and let you decide if your cargo van falls into this category.

According to Section 260(a) of the California Vehicle Code, “a ‘commercial vehicle’ is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.”

Section 260 of the Vehicle Code also includes a few other subsections that further refine the definition: "(b) Passenger vehicles and house cars that are not used for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit are not commercial vehicles. This subdivision shall not apply to Chapter 4(commencing with Section 6700) of Division 3; (c) Any vanpool vehicle is not a commercial vehicle; (d) The definition of a commercial vehicle in this section does not apply to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 15200) of Division 6." You can read the code online at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html

Consulting another source, the California Commercial Drivers' Handbook, we find that a commercial motor vehicle is “a motor vehicle or combination of vehicles designed or used for either the transportation of persons for compensation or property and:

•Has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 26,001 pounds or more.
•Tows any vehicle with a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more.
•Tows more than one vehicle or a trailer bus.
•Has three or more axles (excludes three axle vehicles weighing 6,000 pounds or less gross).
•Is any vehicle (bus, farm labor vehicle, general public paratransit vehicle, etc.) designed, used, or maintained to carry more than 10 passengers including the driver, for hire or profit, or is used by any nonprofit organization or group.
•Transports hazardous materials requiring placarding.*
•Transports hazardous wastes (Health and Safety Code §§25115 and 25117).*

Once you decide which category- automobile or commercial- best describes your cargo van, we can then look at Sacramento’s County and City Codes to determine whether residential parking is legal for you, based on your van’s official designation, size, and weight. The Sacramento County Code’s Title 10 governs Vehicles and Traffic, so it seems like the best place to start our research. Narrowing it down even further, to Chapter 10.24 Parking Regulations, and Chapter 10.30: Preferential Residential Permit Parking Program, you can find all the ordinances regulating parking in the county. You’ll want to read these chapters carefully to determine what’s OK for your situation.

Depending on where you live within Sacramento County, you may need to also consult the City Code, particularly Chapter 10.24: Size, Weight, and Load Restrictions; Chapter 10.36: Stopping, Standing, and Parking; and Chapter 10.48: Residential Permit Parking Program. You will especially want to study Section 10.36.120: Parking Commercial Vehicles in Residential District, which prohibits the parking of commercial vehicles that weigh more than 10,000 pounds (manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight) in certain residential areas.
If you’re still in doubt, we’d recommend contacting the DMV for automobile/commercial questions and Sacramento County Code Enforcement for local parking regulation inquiries.

Do you have a question for the County Law Librarian? Just email sacpress@saclaw.org. If your question is selected your answer will appear in next Thursday's column. Even if your question isn't selected, though, I will still respond within two weeks.

Coral Henning, Director
@coralh & @saclawlibrarian
www.saclaw.org