If an immediate family member has a medical emergency will a courtdate be postponed?

This is a court date for an order for paternity testing and it is an immediate family member of the defendant in the suit, though not the child in question. This is not for me, but for a friend. I guess it is too late for him to contact an attorney? If he goes in, can he agree to the terms, explain the situation then ask to be excused?|||You have to file a motion for continuance stating the reason and the court has to grant it, otherwise if you don't show, then the court will default on the party not there.



EDIT: All you do is file a piece of paper that says "Motion for Continuance" and then you would state the case name, and the case number, the date of the currently set hearing, and then you would ask the court to set over the hearing because of an emergency, and explain the emergency, and how you literally cannot go, or it would be extremely burdensome and cause some undue hardship. Then you would just take it to the courthouse and file it with the clerk, and if it is time sensitive, make sure that the clerk knows that. There are no filing fees for continuances. Also, you must serve it by fax, or mail, or some other form to the opposing party prior to filing it, and attach a proof of service that says you sent it to the other party and by which manner, and the date and time that they sent it. The person who sent it to the other party then has to sign and date the proof of service and the original of both need to be filed with the court (which can usually be the party themself, since it is not a summons and complaint)



Usually every jurisdiction has rules of court listed on their court website of the proper procedure to make these types of motions and requests. Some may require more formalities than others. Some jurisdictions also require the affidavit or declaration by the moving party have a notarized signature, but not always. Again, usually this can be found on your court's webpage for rules of court. They may even have a downloadable form you can print out, so that it is in conformity with their forms. Just make sure you send it immediately and you can call the clerk and ask if it has been granted if you don't hear back and it is nearing the court date and time.



EDIT AGAIN: Go to your jurisdiction's webpage, and look for a tab that says something about "forms" or "pro se" or "pro per" forms. Then just do control F, and type in "continuance" if there are a ton of them. Then download it and fill it in as it requires. Pretty simple. And if your county doesn't have a website, then try a bigger county within the same state, because it will at least be following the same state's rules of court. Good luck.|||It would be very rare indeed for them to postpone court for something like this. I have heard judges tell people that unless they are in intensive care personally, they must attend. They are not even excused in most areas for something like surgeries. He can file for a continuance; in some areas they charge for these filings and in others they do not. In some areas, every paper that gets filed has a fee. He could file an 'in pauperis' form or 'Pauper's certification' or whatever your state calls it, and if he is making a low income they will either waive the fees or lessen them.





His best bet IMHO is to submit to paternity testing. If he IS the father they will pursue him endlessly anyway and this will take the power away from the child's mother and put it on the state, keeping him dealing with the state and not her on the financial stuff. That is worth a world's full of nights of sleep. If he is NOT the father then he should ask the judge to order that if the test shows he is not the father, that she has to pay for it. Most courts will grant that motion. Do as the other poster described, go on line to his local court and look for 'motion to' forms. He needs to submit the form as well as ask the judge, it is just how things are done.





He needs to get this taken care of. If the mom is on welfare, he will be billed for that welfare if he is the dad. This means that if he avoids the test (and she has already filed paperwork, clearly) then years for now he could go to buy a house and discover the state has placed a lien or damaged his credit. That can be done WITHOUT A HEARING if the mom is on welfare or whatever they are calling it these days.





It's time to either get this taken care of, or man up and be a dad. Either way, going to court and getting this in motion rather than looking for postponements, etc., is the way to go. By the way, every state now has a dad's rights or parent's rights activist group. If he is the dad, he should seek them out, they have GREAT info and can probably walk him through the steps he will need, and give him guidance in making decisions.


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experience as a paralegal and volunteer in father's rights|||Possibly,





it'd have to be a life threatening emergency that needed to be treated then %26amp; there.