If you feel as though you have a biased judge in your divorce proceeding, any party or Orange County divorce attorney may prevent any judge, commissioner, or referee from presiding at a hearing on temporary orders by making a timely challenge under Code of Civil Procedure Section 170.6.
The challenge is made orally or by written motion with supporting affidavits/declarations indicating that the judicial officer is prejudiced or biased against a party or the attorney or their interests, so that the challenging party cannot or believes that they cannot have a fair and impartial hearing before such officer.
“Peremptory” challenges are more commonly made because this allows for automatic disqualification without specific allegations or proof of grounds. However, if there are issues of knowledge of evidentiary facts at issue or personal or financial interest or that a relationship exists amongst the parties and officer, then a challenge for cause may be made and specific allegations and proof are required.
Also there are deadlines as to when these challenges/motions must be made to disqualify a judge or judicial officer so it is important to obtain an experienced family law attorney that knows the statute well. The other factor that affect a timely challenge is knowing the type of court calendar that cases are assigned to and a key factor is having a local attorney represent you in the court that attorney practices in regularly.
If you are in the middle of a divorce or plan to initiate one and you are not happy with the judicial officer you are in front of, then contact the experienced family law attorneys at Wallin & Klarich, to assist you in filing a timely challenge against the judicial officer to obtain the best result possible for your case. Our attorneys have helped numerous people in the same or similar situations when divorce or family law matters are involved. Call Wallin & Klarich today at 1-888-280-6839 or visit our website at www.wkfamilylaw.com.
