When someone asks what is case management conference you might have so many responses to give for this. There are many definitions that law and lawyers give for this but for this purpose, more focus court drives towards case management conferences in legal matters.
What Is Case Management Conference?
In legal terms, case management refers to any scheduled proceedings in which the court is involved in a matter. As you already know, a litigation process comes with quite a good number of stages.
These processes are so many from the filing of a petition or complaint and many others that you might know already.
A case management conference or CMC legal term is one of these stages of litigation procedures. Unfortunately, unlike the other processes, people do not know this process much.
This is exactly why it is so essential to try to put in some effort in trying to five a proper description and account of what a case management conference is.
Case Management Conference Is All About Family
Whenever we are discussing case management conferences, please understand that these arrangements are all about family. The best method to describe a case management conference is that there is a litigation procedure through which a meeting will be going on between the family members. The unique aspect, however, will be that a judge will be involved in the case. If we were to delve further into the subject, we’d find out that a case management conference is actually a very essential stage in legal proceedings. It is an extremely significant point where the parties in a dispute try to discuss all aspects of the case. They try to streamline the legal process to reach the desired result.
During this conference, all the parties, their legal representatives and attorneys, and the presiding judge together decide on important subjects.
So let us now find out what actually goes on in a case management conference.
- A case management conference is a platform for parties to a legal dispute. Here they are free to discuss the best course of action to solve the case. This forum provides an opportunity for the parties to address the parts that they disagree on. They can together come up with solutions to fix these areas of agreement or disagreement.
- Not just disagreements, though. Both parties are free to go through areas that they agree on. This increases the chances of the case reaching a quick settlement. However, negotiations do continue mostly in cases where the parties disagree.
- After all parties reach a stage where discussions are completed, the presiding judge will finally decide how the case will proceed. The judge may, however, they see fit, opt for various approaches to reach the resolution of the case effectively.
- There can be a case where the parents are unable to reach a definitive decision about child custody. On such matters, the judge may opt for mediation. Through it, a neutral third party called a “mediator” will assist in taking care of discussions and reaching an agreement.
- In certain cases, the judge may also opt for methods of alternative forms of dispute resolution. This will ensure that there is an amicable settlement of issues. The main purpose of alternate forms of dispute resolution is to reach a common goal without going to a courtroom or a trial.
As soon as the case management conference is over, the presiding judge will set up a court date within 90 days after the conference. During this time period, the parties will prepare accordingly for court proceedings.
How To Prepare For A Case Management Conference Hearing
A case management conference is all about presenting yourself in a court of law and being able to do so in the right way. To do this right, you need to adequately prepare yourself for this case and make sure that you give the best account of yourself during this case.
So, how does one prepare himself or herself for a case management conference hearing, and is it even important to prepare for this? Well, preparation for this case is so essential and knowing how to do this in the right way is even better.
The best way to prepare for this case is to fully acclimatize yourself with all the case management conference proceedings. Where necessary, you can find out from people who have handled such cases in the past and how they did. Try explaining to them the structure of your case and see how best they can advise you.
Other than that, you can also try watching previous videos of such court proceedings. This will offer you all the essential insights you need. If you have some videos that were done in recent times on the same subject. You can start by watching those as well.
Can The judge Make The Final Decision At The End Of The Day?
Not really, in the case of a case management conference the judge does not give the final orders at the end of the day. What the judge does is that they only provide orders.
The case holders should follow these in the after activities of this case. The final decision, in this case, will take the parties in dispute. Then they can decide how best to deal with this matter in the end.
However, you need to know that if by some chance the family members are not in agreement at the end of the day then the judge will not give the final orders. Remember, this is one of the rare cases in which the judge can hear the case. Here, all the matters involved then give the directions on this issue.
Conclusion
The case management conference is something that remains a mystery to some people across the world. Questions generally people ask about this subject with answers becoming scarce on the same issue.
The text above takes a look at what a case management conference is. Additionally, it covers all the other details you need to know about the same.
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