Q I am representing myself in a divorce and trying to decide what discovery to request. Should ask interrogatories and admissions?

I don’t think we have any money to fight over but I don’t really know because he always managed the money and I managed the kids. He is trying to fight me for custody of the kids and I think it’s really so he can pay less child support.

A Assuming you have now completed the mandatory self-disclosure required by Supplemental Rule 410, you should have a sense of the financial picture. If you do not believe what his financial statement, tax returns, bank statements and the like reflect, you can ask for more documents in a request for production of documents.

Interrogatories can be an effective tool in a parenting dispute. If you ask open ended questions like “what parenting plan do you believe is in the best interest of our children?” He should describe his proposed parenting plan. Your next question would be ”why do you think the parenting plan you just described is in the children’s best interest?” This should trigger a detailed response about how his proposal is good for your children.

You are limited to 30 interrogatories, so be careful in crafting your questions. Subparts to questions count as a separate question. Interrogatories are also useful in learning about his potential witnesses. Ask him to name both his fact and expert witnesses and describe in detail what he expects they will testify to.

You can serve interrogatories and requests for admissions. Requests for admissions are not widely used but are a highly effective tool. You write a short concise statement for him to admit is true. You then build on that statement getting him to admit to additional details.

In a custody situation, you would want to ask him to admit to all of the things you do for your children. For example, “Admit I make the children’s doctor appointments.” “Admit I take the children to their doctor appointments.” “Admit you have never attended a doctor appointment.” You can go on and on with all of the things you handle for the children which show you are the primary caretaker. He will have 30 days to either admit or deny each fact. If he does not respond, all of the facts are deemed admitted so he cannot contradict them at trial.

Email questions to whickey@brickjones.com