ATTENDING A DIVORCE SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE IN CALIFORNIA - VIDEO #59 (2021)

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Ninth video in an 11 part series of tutorial videos on how to handle a contested divorce case in California. In this video, we explain how to schedule, how to prepare for, and what to do at a divorce settlement conference.

Before you get to trial, you will attend a settlement conference at the court. During the settlement conference, the judge or court staff, will offer their assistance in trying to help you and your spouse reach a settlement on all issues.
How you get a settlement conference date scheduled, what documents you need to file with the court before the settlement conference takes place, and what happens at the settlement conference is going to vary dramatically from county to county.
Most courts will not schedule a settlement conference until both parties have completed and exchanged their Preliminary Declarations of Disclosure. The case is not going to be ready to settle if both parties have not yet exchanged their Preliminary Declarations of Disclosure.
Courts typically will not automatically issue a settlement conference date just because both parties have filed their FL-141 forms. You are likely going to need to take some action, such as filing a local court form, to get the settlement conference scheduled. These local court forms go by different names such as “Request For Settlement Conference”; “At-Issue Memorandum”; etc. You are just going to have to either read the local rules, ask a court clerk, or talk to the Family Law Facilitator in order to find out what you need to do in your county in order to get the court to issue a settlement conference date.

Some courts may require you to participate in a hearing before they schedule the settlement conference. These pre-settlement conference hearings go by different names. Some are called Case Management Conferences and some are called “Pre-Trial Conferences”.
You will need to file a “Settlement Conference Statement” with the court before the settlement conference. A Settlement Conference Statement is a pleading that tells the court what agreements the parties have been able to make, what issues are still in dispute, and what your settlement position is with respect to each disputed issue.
We offer, for a nominal charge, a Settlement Conference Statement template. The template provides the framework for a typical Settlement Conference Statement and includes instructions on what to write.

What happens at the settlement conference hearing, in terms of procedure, will vary from county to county. Typically, when both parties have lawyers, the lawyers meet with the settlement conference judge in the judge’s chambers to discuss settlement. The judge will have previously read the parties’ Settlement Conference Statements and the judge will give an indication to the lawyers as to how the disputed issues will likely be decided by the judge if the matter were to go to trial. The lawyers then meet with their clients, tell the clients what the judge said, and the case will oftentimes settle along the lines suggested by the settlement conference judge.

If one or both parties do not have a lawyer, you can expect any settlement discussions with the judge to take place in the courtroom, with the bailiff present. If both parties are in pro per, some courts don’t have you meet with a judge at the settlement conference. Instead, you will meet with an employee of the court that is not a judge but is knowledgeable about the law or you may meet with a local family law lawyer that has volunteered his or her time to help conduct a settlement conference with pro pers.
If you reach a settlement, you will inform the court that you have reached a settlement. If the court will permit you to do so, recite the terms of the settlement “on the record”, which means in front of the judge with a court reporter taking down every word. If the court will not permit a recital of the settlement “on the record”, write up a summary of the settlement points. The court may have a stipulation form you can use to write up a summary of the settlement. After you write up the summary, both you and your spouse should date and sign the summary. Make a copy of the summary at the court so you both leave with a copy. You will then need to go home and prepare your Judgment of Dissolution, which is FL-180, and all the additional paperwork that goes along with the judgment.
If you are unable to reach a settlement at the settlement conference, the court will likely give you a trial date.

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