Gathering evidence for your Florida divorce case can be daunting. Consider using the Application for Admission discovery tool found in Rule 12.370 if you have applied for alimony or child support and your spouse does not provide the required financial information. Remember, it’s up to you to prove your spouse’s income to win a prize. An Application for Admission can help you prove your case.
What is an Application for Admission?
These requests ask your spouse to admit certain facts that appear to be in dispute in your case or your spouse to admit that certain documents are “authentic.” (Documents must be “notarized” before being admitted as evidence at trial.) So, for example, if your spouse hasn’t filed a financial affidavit or provided required disclosure documents about his income, he can ask you to admit that he earns certain wages. His request would go like this: “Admit that he earns $3,000 per month in take-home pay.”
Either party may submit an application for admission. This article is primarily written for a petitioner seeking to prove a disputed claim, but respondents may also use the Application for Admission.
Why use admission applications?
Using the Application for Admission can help you narrow down the issues the judge must decide in a contested case and/or prove that the documents are authentic. This is because any issue admitted in this process is “conclusively established” for the purposes of your divorce case. That means you have proven that fact in your case.
Using the income example in the previous section, if your spouse admits to earning $3,000 net income per month, you will not have to prove income by other methods at trial, even if your spouse did not file a financial affidavit. He can present the admissions at trial and they will be your evidence. Because you have now proven your spouse’s income, you can calculate child support based on the admitted net income.
Scheduling an application for admission
An application for admission can be submitted at any time after the petition has been filed and can even be served with the Summons and Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. The best practice, in terms of timing, is to wait until your spouse files an answer challenging any claim in her petition. Using the claims your spouse has denied in his response to her petition, he will see where the disputes lie and will be able to design an Application for Admission that demonstrates the facts necessary for your case.
How to use admission applications
First, your application can only contain a total of 30 applications, including all subparts, unless you ask the court for permission to submit more. Take a look at the paragraphs of your Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and see which ones your spouse denied. Focus on the facts that will prove the claims in your divorce petition. If you have documents but don’t know how to “notarize” them into evidence, a Request to Admit Documents Are Authentic can help you if your spouse admits authenticity or does not respond to your request. You must attach copies of the documents to the application if you want your spouse to vouch for the authenticity of the documents.
The fact or authenticity of a document contained in your application will be “admitted” unless your spouse files a written response denying the fact or authenticity or files an objection within 30 days of service of the application. Of course, you’ll need to add shipping time if you’re mailing your applications.
Respond to an application for admission
If you are responding to an Application for Admission, be very careful! First, be sure to mark your calendar and file your responses on time. If your answer is not filed on time, you will “admit” the facts in the Request. Second, if a fact is not true, you must either deny it or tell the court in detail why you cannot truthfully admit or deny the fact. Third, if part of the request is true and part is not, you must separate your response by specifying which part is true and which part is not. Finally, if the request asks for information that you do not have in your possession, you must make a “reasonable inquiry” and try to find the information. If you make a reasonable inquiry and are still unable to obtain the information, you must file an answer saying that you made the inquiry and are not yet aware of the fact. Note that if you deny a fact and the other party later proves that the fact was true, you may be charged for the cost of proving that fact.
A timely Request for Admission can help you prove your case and move toward trial or settlement. Consider using these applications in your Florida divorce case.