What Is a Prove-Up Hearing in the Divorce Process?
A prove-up hearing is simply an attempt by a court to establish certain facts of a case. However, in cases of a general lack of opposition between the two sides of a case, it can be a means for recording the declaration of one side of the case or an agreement by both as the resolution for the cause of their conflict. In a divorce trial, a prove-up hearing may be a means to implement a final plan on parenting or the division of marital property. Have a question? Get an answer from a Lawyer now!
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Definition and Nature of a Prove-up Hearing
- A prove-up hearing is a court meeting for a judge to approve or disallow a final agreement on a case, such as an agreement on the distribution of property or the custody of children in a divorce case. Any hearing made in the absence of the defendant is also at least technically a prove-up hearing.
Lawyer's Actions During a Prove-up Hearing
- A lawyer presenting his case during a prove-up hearing in the absence of the defendant may simply ask his client to identify herself; state the number, name and ages of any children from the marriage; and then recall the story of her discovery of any offense serving as grounds for divorce from her spouse. During a prove-up divorce hearing with the spouse present, however, the lawyer may also ask his client to identify an agreement on parenting or the distribution of property and the signatures on it. In the absence of any actual complaint from another party, the lawyer has to do no more.
Arranging a Prove-up Hearing
- Having a divorce case heard in a prove-up hearing can permit someone seeking divorce to have that divorce more quickly and easily, and so many people petitioning for divorce may prefer to request a prove-up hearing. To get a prove-up hearing, however, the person requesting it would first have to file a request for divorce and at least attempt to serve the spouse with a notice of that plea for divorce. By that point, the court will have given the case an identification number and assigned it a judge, a court, and a date and time, and the person requesting a prove-up hearing will need that information in the request. In the absence of any reason against granting the hearing, the judge may grant it, but any defendant willing to oppose the motion may stop the hearing simply by opposing it.
Premarital agreements in Prove-Up Hearings
- During a prove-up hearing, a judge can accept a premarital agreement as the plan for the dissolution of a marriage even in the absence of the husband or wife, other than one contested by one of the parties to the marriage. A defendant can, however, appeal any decision to uphold a premarital agreement, though he must do so on the grounds of the agreement's unconscionable unfairness or his having been forced to sign it.
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