In order to begin a case you must file it with the Court Clerk in order to be assigned a Judge and get on the docket. In this post, we are going to take a look at what it means to file a case in Oklahoma.
Something that is often in debate about Oklahoma is that we fund our court system through filing fees, fines, and court costs. While pundits argue regularly about the constitutionality of this process the fact remains it is the law as we speak.
This means that once you have your Petition, Summons, and other documents ready to file, you take those documents to the Court Clerk in the County where you will be filing the case. You will pay a fee to the Court clerk in the amount of $272.14 for a divorce with minor children or $174.14 for a Petition to Establish Paternity in the major counties in the Oklahoma City metro area. Obviously prices change and it all depends on the case and the County so don’t quote me here but it is important to understand that these are mandatory costs to begin the case.
Once you pay your filing fee you will receive a case number and you will be assigned a Judge. In some Counties, the type of case determines the Judge pool in which a random Judge is assigned. In other Counties, it might be one Judge that handles all family law issues or even one Judge in the County period.
People often ask whether we can switch Judges for a number of reasons. The simple answer is no, but it depends. This is a specific scenario that will be addressed in that situation and I will save that conversation for another day.
Once you know who your Judge will be, your attorney will deliver copies of the newly filed documents to the Judge’s staff, and if necessary, schedule any hearings at that time.
At this point we are ready to serve the documents to the other party.
But What About???
Every family law case is unique and has certain individual characteristics with it. Because family law cases are a court of equity, meaning the Judge will attempt to find a fair or equitable division of assets, there is no way to explain every wrinkle of potential issues in one post.
If you read this post and have questions about your individual situation, please call us so that we may discuss it in more specific detail.
I also consider this a living document where we update and tweak this process as things change in procedure and with specific counties. Please bookmark our main page Stages of an Oklahoma Family Law Case. You can also reach our office at 405-889-1439.