There will be a lot of people participating in your divorce. You can't tell the players without a program. This chapter will help you recognize the names of the players and their various roles when you encounter them.

Parties

You and your spouse are the parties to this divorce. In the litigation, the person who files first is called the plaintiff and the other spouse is then the defendant. In a Separation Agreement, you might be referred to as Husband and Wife.

Children

The court makes its decisions regarding children based on what the Judge believes will be in their best interests. Lawyers may be appointed to represent the children, and evaluators or assessors may be appointed to investigate and make recommendations to the court.

Lawyers

One or both of you may hire a lawyer to represent you. In litigation, the lawyer will be called Attorney for the Plaintiff or Attorney for the Defendant. Lawyers are also sometimes referred to as Counsel or Counsel of Record. That lawyer could be a sole practitioner or a partner or associate in a firm. Lawyers sometimes hire paralegals or legal assistants to help them. Your spouse's lawyer cannot talk to you if you are represented by a lawyer, and may not talk to you if you are not represented. Your own lawyer probably has a secretary who many times can answer your questions. The good thing about talking to your lawyer's secretary is that he or she doesn't charge you by the minute.

Judge

The judge will hear your case and decide your divorce. Judges are only human and they are not always right. We pay them to make decisions when we cannot agree. If you don't like the decision, there are Appeal Courts to review the judge's decision.

Masters

Masters are not quite judges but they are appointed as special assistants to the court to hear uncontested divorces and some contested divorces and make recommendations to the judge. The recommendations are usually adopted by the judge, but not always.

Court Clerks

The court hires clerks to perform administrative functions and handle all the paperwork. There are different clerks for different tasks at the courthouse. The first clerk you see will be the one that processes your complaint, starts a court file and assigns your case a number. There is also a file clerk who keeps track of all the files. The judge may also have a courtroom clerk at the divorce hearing, and a law clerk to help research the law. Clerks are not permitted to give you legal advice, but if you recognize they are overworked and under appreciated, they can be helpful in moving your case along.

Pendente Lite Facilitator

Family lawyers with mediation training are available in some courts at the Scheduling Conference to try to help you settle temporary support and related issues.

Custody Evaluator or Assessor

The court hires mental health professionals to make an investigation and report to the court on issues of child custody. In an evaluation, the evaluator will interview you, your spouse, the children and sometimes third parties like teachers and neighbors. In an assessment, the assessor usually only interviews the children and the parties. The court places great weight on the recommendations of the evaluator or assessor as to custody.

Guardian Ad Litem

The court may appoint a lawyer for the children if custody is in dispute. This lawyer is called the guardian ad litem (GAL). He or she can consult with the evaluator or assessor and may also recommend which parent should have custody.

Nagel V. Hooks Attorney

In Maryland, the court sometimes appoints a Nagel v. Hooks attorney, which is an attorney who can waive the child-therapist privilege. You will probably have to pay a portion of this lawyer's fees and usually payment is required in advance.

Custody Mediator

The court has several therapists on staff, called custody mediators, to try to resolve custody disputes. For example, you may be ordered to have two, two-hour sessions with the custody mediator.

ADR Facilitator

In Maryland, the Court may order you to participate in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for at least three hours. This will cost you $225. The facilitator is an experienced family lawyer with mediation training. This ADR is sometimes called mediation with an arm twist because the facilitator has a short time to resolve the case and they are sometimes pushy. You do not have to settle, but this is almost your last chance before trial. You can ask for a particular mediator to be assigned if you have one in mind. You can also go to private mediation if you want, and this will probably take the place of court-ordered ADR. Usually the court will not order ADR in domestic violence cases.

Process Servers

Your complaint can be served by mail, but if your spouse doesn't sign or doesn't accept the mail, you can have it hand delivered by someone other than yourself. We use a private process server.

Private Investigator

You can hire a private investigator to follow your spouse and try to prove adultery. But most times this is easy to prove through discovery. So we are more likely to hire a private investigator for finding witnesses and assets and income.

Witnesses

You need to prove facts in court. You can do this through the testimony of witnesses. You will probably want to depose, that is examine under oath, some witnesses before trial. You can require witnesses to appear at a deposition or trial with a subpoena Adultery is a factor in many of our cases. The other man or woman is called the paramour and is usually a witness in the case.

Expert Witnesses

Expert witnesses can give the court an opinion (unlike regular witnesses who can generally only report facts). There are some contested divorce trials that require one or more expert witnesses. A therapist can testify about custody and visitation. An occupational rehabilitation expert can testify about potential income in alimony cases. A real estate appraiser can give values for real estate. A business appraiser can value a business.