What Happens When an Unrepreented Party Testifies in Court

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: California

I, the Respondent (Father) have an upcoming Trial and I am on the witness list for the Petitioner (Mother).

Petitioner has Counsel
Respondent (me) is PRO PER

How can I be called as a witness? Is Petitioner's attorney just trying to "rattle my cage?"

Can I cross-examine myself? Are there any resources I have overlooked that address this situation?

Thank You for your help,

JustADadInNeed

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Quoting JustADadInNeed

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How can I be called as a witness? Is Petitioner's attorney just trying to "rattle my cage?"

Are there any resources I have overlooked that address this situation?

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You can certainly be ordered to take the stand and testify at trial, although you will be disadvantaged by lack of an attorney on your side. Hopefully that will not end up costing you more in the long run.

The following link has some nuggets of information that may be helpful
http://www.innd.uscourts.gov/judges/...xplanation.pdf

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How can I be called as a witness?

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are you suggesting that simply because you are representing yourself you would somehow be immune to questioning that would be possible if you had a lawyer? You are first; a party to the issue. Then, you are, well, that is all you are. You are not an attorney so attempting to think of yourself as an attorney in this situation is not applicable.


definitely do not attempt to withhold information based on attorney client privilege;)

I didn't know petitioner OR respondent could be called to answer questions from the other side unless they took the stand themselves. Thank you for you help! :)

So after I am done answering questions from petitioner how would I "cross examine" myself?

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The following link has some nuggets of information that may be helpful
http://www.innd.uscourts.gov/judges/...xplanation.pdf[/QUOTE]

This link was VERY helpful, Thank You!

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Quoting JustADadInNeed

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So after I am done answering questions from petitioner how would I "cross examine" myself?

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As the linked document indicates, that can depend on the approach taken by the court in which the case is being heard.

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Quoting Testifying While Representing Yourself

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If you testify as a witness in this case, you won’t have to ask questions of yourself. Some judges do require that, so that the lawyer for the defense will have an opportunity to make an objection. The judge will let you just tell the facts of the case, but you must tell the court when you are changing topics — for example, “Now I’m going to talk about when I saw the doctor” — so the lawyer for the 9 defense will have an opportunity to object to a topic. Other than not having to ask questions of yourself, your testimony will have to comply with all the other rules of evidence and procedure, which means there may be objections raised during your testimony. If the judge sustains an objection, he is ruling that you can’t talk about whatever was objected to. If you don’t understand what it is you’re not allowed to talk about, ask the judge.

Let the judge know when you are done with your testimony. He will then ask the lawyer for the defense if there is any cross examination, and you might be cross examined by the ot her side. If so, you will be given a chance to give more testimony on redirect examination.

The judge will not remind you of topics to testify about. If he did that, he would be acting as your advocate. So if your case is about things that happened on a Monday and a Tuesday, and you only testify about Monday, the judge will not remind you to talk about Tuesday.

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You should find out from the court, in advance of the hearing, how it handles this issue.