The Better Chancery Practice Blog

For those of you who are relatively new to this blog, I want to call your attention to how crucial it is to put on proof of the various factors that have been mandated by the appellate courts to make your case. It’s a subject I bring up every now and then to make sure that lawyers know about it.

It’s what I call trial by checklist. You can think of the factors as a checklist of what you need to prove to make your case. If you fail to put on proof of the factors, as I have said here many times, you are wasting your and the court’s time, as well as your client’s money, and you are committing malpractice to boot.

Many lawyers print out these checklists and use them at trial. Please feel free to copy these checklists and use them in your trial notebooks. You’re free to copy any post for your own personal use, but not for commercial use.  Lawyers have told me that they are building notebooks tabbed with various subjects and inserting copies of my posts (along with other useful material, I imagine).  Good.  If it improves practice and makes your (and my) job easier and more effective, I’m all for it.

Here is a list of links to the checklists I’ve posted:

Attorney’s fees.

Attorney’s fees in an estate.

Adverse possession.

Child custody.

Closing an estate.

Doing an accounting in a probate matter.

Grandparent visitation.

Equitable distribution.

Income tax dependency exemption.

Modification of child support.

Periodic and rehabilitative alimony.

Lump sum alimony.

Separate maintenance.

Up there on the right is a box labeled “Select Category.” There is a “Checklist” category that will take you to all the posts with and about checklists.