Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce - Emily Doskow [63]
The testimony that the people on your side give under your lawyer's questioning is called "direct" testimony. After the direct testimony, the other lawyer will get a chance to cross-examine each person. Your lawyer then gets to question each person again in what's called "redirect" examination. This can go on as long as the judge will let it, except that each time the lawyers can only ask follow-up questions on topics that have been covered before. They can't go over the same ground or bring in something new, so the process gets shorter with each round.
Testifying in Court
If you testify at your trial, your own lawyer will ask you questions, and then your spouse's lawyer may cross-examine you. The goal of the crossexamination is to show that some or all of what you have said is not true or complete. Be prepared to be challenged on every aspect of your testimony. Your lawyer will prepare you for the cross-examination before you go into court, probably by playing the role of the other lawyer and asking you the questions the other lawyer is likely to ask you. But expect the unexpectedthere's no way that you or your lawyer can anticipate every question the lawyer might ask you.
It can be nerve wracking to be on the stand answering questions. The most important thing is for you to stay calm. Take your time in answering the questions; think about the answers before you speak. Always tell the truth, even if it doesn't make you look good. If you don't understand a question, say so. The lawyer will repeat or rephrase it until you know what you are answering. Keep your answers as brief as you can while still being truthful and complete. And never be sarcastic or rude, no matter how awful your spouse's attorney is to you. Don't exaggerate or be overly dramatic in your testimony, though it's okay to show your feelings when you are testifying, within reason.
If you get nervous, try looking at a friendly face in the courtroom-in fact, if you know you'll be nervous, bring a friend to sit in the front row. Pour yourself a drink of water, which will almost always be handy when you are testifying. If you are shaking, put your hands in your lap and take a deep breath to try to calm down. And if you feel faint or sick, ask the judge for a short break to pull yourself together.
Respondent's Case: Evidence and Testimony
After your lawyer has questioned all your witnesses and submitted all your paper evidence, the other side gets its chance to do the same thing. They will probably have expert witnesses of their own, and your spouse will likely testify just as you did. The direct and crossexamination process will happen just as it did when your lawyer presented your case.
Petitioner's Rebuttal
Next, you will have a chance to respond by putting on witnesses who can contradict (rebut) what your spouse's witnesses said. Your witnesses can't repeat what they said earlier, but can respond only to what the other side's witnesses said.
Respondent's Surrebuttal
Sometimes, a judge gives the respondent the opportunity for what's called "surrebuttal," which is where the respondent's witnesses respond to what your witnesses said on rebuttal. Again, they can't bring up anything new or repeat themselves-they must limit their testimony to contradicting what was said in the rebuttal case.
Testimony From a Child's Lawyer or Custody Evaluator
In contested custody cases, it's very common for a judge to appoint a lawyer to represent the children or a custody evaluator to review your family situation. The lawyer might be called a "guardian ad litem," and the job of this lawyer-or custody evaluator-is to pay attention only to the interests of the children, ignoring financial matters. The guardian ad litem or custody evaluator will have the opportunity to offer testimony-usually after both sides have already presented their testimony. That's because the guardian ad litem's testimony doesn't belong to either spouse-the guardian is appointed by the court. There's