Your rights are precious and powerful. So is the abuse of power that you will face. And this abuse of power is swift and severe. If you are one of the many parents quickly discovering the power of your rights and have found the motions on our motions page. You will want to know how to protect those motions in order to protect your rights arguments. We don’t want to see you lose your opportunity to challenge them properly. These motions are meant to open doors for you and provide power and leverage to your argument that you are an equal to the other parent. If you don’t know the rules that you might face when making these claims, the doors that these motions open for you, could quickly be shut.
If your case is in front of a magistrate or an associate judge, you need to know…
that if one of these kinds of judges rule on your motions, like denies the motions, if you do not file for a de novo review, you might be waiving your right to have that decision reviewed. And this means that you cannot challenge that decision after a very short window of time that is set by your local rules for your court.
Your de novo review request might be due within 3 days or 14 days. Check your rules to find out specifically how many days you have to request from your referring court. The time that you have to challenge a magistrate or associate judge’s ruling is set in your local rules. If you miss this date you could be waiving your right to have that decision reviewed.
A de novo review 
is not an appeal of the decision by the magistrate. You are asking your district court judge to give you a new trial based on specific issues that you list out for the court.
And on top of all of this, it is more expensive to have your case heard by an associate judge or magistrate if you need to challenge their ruling.
How Many Times Can You Afford to Have Court Hearings?
You won’t be allowed to go straight to the appellate court with a mandamus complaint if you had an associate judge rule. You have to request your referring judge to hear your case according to the rules first. This creates more expense on you. Now you have to have your attorney ask for another hearing, so you will have had two hearings instead of just one before you take your complaint to the appellate court.
Any time you use any material from us please make sure that you get the necessary additional education so that you know how to use them as best as possible for your unique situation, so that you don’t close doors.
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NOTE: Please keep in mind that we are not attorneys so any reference to legal terms above, we are not responsible for if they do not match what your court uses. It is your responsibility to research your rules and terms that are appropriate to your court yourself. We are not a substitute for an attorney. We do not practice law. You are responsible to decide what is appropriate to use for your case and you are responsible for any results or consequences that you face using any material from us. We are not telling you what to do and we do not make decisions for you.
Beginner's Guide to Family Law
A Simplified Path to Parental Rights
For a loving parent, a child custody suit can be a time of terror. The most important thing in your life is at stake and it doesn't take long to figure out that the system is rigged against you. This book provides simple straight forward and easy to understand ways to help ensure that your rights get protected. This is the starter guide for you to protect your rights.