“[The] Civil Discovery Act applies to all family law discovery[.] Information obtained through discovery may not be disseminated. Time to respond [is] extended if discovery is mailed: By 5 days if mailed within California; by 10 days if mailed outside California (but within the United States); and by 20 days if mailed outside the United States.
Some of the commonalities in the discovery laws are: Discovery requests are not filed with the court; A copy of all discovery requests must be served upon all parties that have appeared in the action; The propounding party must retain both the original discovery and the original proof of service; If interrogatories, document inspection demands and/or requests for admissions are mailed to a party with California, CCP 1013(a) applies; The parties requesting/responding may agree to extension in writing; If a party objects to discovery based on privilege, response must provide sufficient factual information to evaluate the merits of that claim; Each answer must have same identifying number & be in the same sequence as the request; If a party fails to obey order-compelling discovery, court may sanction; Court must impose a monetary sanction against party, person or attorney who unsuccessfully makes/opposes motion for a protective order.
4 methods of discovery commonly used in family law are: Interrogatories- written questions to opposing party; Document inspection demands- demands for inspection/copying of documents; Requests for Admission- to admit genuineness of documents, truth of statements; Depositions- proceedings to examine a party or witness under oath.”
[LW Greenberg, California Family Law]
