Can You Take a Deposition of Somebody Who Interviews Your Child About Abuse

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: IL
Can I file a Subpoena for a forensic interview that was performed on my son, requesting that the interviewer come to my office for me to depose her in front of our notary republic or have the deposition waived if they submit the report to me by a certain date?

I am pro se in my case.

If you are a respondent in child protective proceedings, you should retain a lawyer or, if you qualify, seek court-appointed counsel.

If there's no pending court action against you, you are not in a position to conduct discovery.

Depositions are taken before court reporters, not before a notary public.

Ok so I prepared my Subpoena Duces Tecum for the forensic interview performed on my son pertaining to the pending case. Today I received a letter from the Children's Advocacy Center stating as follows:

We are in receipt of the subpoena you served on our client on or about March 4, 2014 wherein you command our client's appearance to testify in the above-captioned matter and to produce specified documents and tangible things.

Please be advised that the subpoena was not properly issued and therefore our client will not be responding.

I know it's impossible to know exactly what I didn't do without seeing the documents but I prepared it according to what I found in the law library and sent it usps mail (not certified). Any ideas as to what I might have forgotten or left off?

I asked for the specific documents and gave the dates of said documents as well named them by their rightful names as well the subpoena stated they must appear unless they provide the documents by a specific date and then their appearance would be waived.

Thanks

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

Ok so I prepared my Subpoena Duces Tecum for the forensic interview performed on my son pertaining to the pending case. Today I received a letter from the Children's Advocacy Center stating as follows:

We are in receipt of the subpoena you served on our client on or about March 4, 2014 wherein you command our client's appearance to testify in the above-captioned matter and to produce specified documents and tangible things.

Please be advised that the subpoena was not properly issued and therefore our client will not be responding.

I know it's impossible to know exactly what I didn't do without seeing the documents but I prepared it according to what I found in the law library and sent it usps mail (not certified). Any ideas as to what I might have forgotten or left off?

I asked for the specific documents and gave the dates of said documents as well named them by their rightful names as well the subpoena stated they must appear unless they provide the documents by a specific date and then their appearance would be waived.

Thanks

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Quoting ssj

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Ok so I prepared my Subpoena Duces Tecum for the forensic interview performed on my son pertaining to the pending case. Today I received a letter from the Children's Advocacy Center stating as follows:

We are in receipt of the subpoena you served on our client on or about March 4, 2014 wherein you command our client's appearance to testify in the above-captioned matter and to produce specified documents and tangible things.

Please be advised that the subpoena was not properly issued and therefore our client will not be responding.

I know it's impossible to know exactly what I didn't do without seeing the documents but I prepared it according to what I found in the law library and sent it usps mail (not certified). Any ideas as to what I might have forgotten or left off?

I asked for the specific documents and gave the dates of said documents as well named them by their rightful names as well the subpoena stated they must appear unless they provide the documents by a specific date and then their appearance would be waived.

Thanks

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That's your problem right there.

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Rule 204. Compelling Appearance of Deponent (a) Action Pending in This State.
(1) Subpoenas. Except as provided in paragraph (c) hereof,: (i) the clerk of the court shall issue subpoenas on request; or (ii) subpoenas may be issued by an attorney admitted to practice in the State of Illinois who is currently counsel of record in the pending action. The subpoena may command the person to whom it is directed to produce documents or tangible things which constitute or contain evidence relating to any of the matters within the scope of the examination permitted under these rules.

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[QUOTE=ssj;791871]My question involves a child custody case from the State of: IL

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Ok so I prepared my Subpoena Duces Tecum for the forensic interview performed on my son pertaining to the pending case. Today I received a letter from the Children's Advocacy Center stating as follows:

We are in receipt of the subpoena you served on our client on or about March 4, 2014 wherein you command our client's appearance to testify in the above-captioned matter and to produce specified documents and tangible things.

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was there another subpoena as a subpoena duces tecum is not used to compel testimony or did you use an improper form of subpoena in an attempt to demand testimony of a person?

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Please be advised that the subpoena was not properly issued and therefore our client will not be responding.

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makes perfect sense given your statements so far.

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I know it's impossible to know exactly what I didn't do without seeing the documents but I prepared it according to what I found in the law library and sent it usps mail (not certified). Any ideas as to what I might have forgotten or left off?

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http://legal-dictionary.thefreedicti...na+duces+tecum

according to that link, I suspect you issued a subpeona duces tecum when you should have used a subpoena ad testificandum (demand to testify)

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Quoting Welfarelvr

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That's your problem right there.

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I don't think that is the only problem. []

given the response they got, it may very likely be the matter that the subpoena was not issued by the clerk but the also need to be sure they use the proper form of subpoena as well, if Illinois does utilize various forms of subpoenas.

A standard form subpoena will typically include provisions to compel testimony and/or the production of documents. That way if you need a witness to bring certain materials to a court hearing you only need one subpoena. See, e.g., Cook County's form. The "issued by" portion should stand as a hint that a party can't execute the subpoena.

See but in Illinois, the clerk doesn't prepare or issue documents. They will serve the documents for a fee. hmmmm...

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In Kane Co. IL here were the options: http://www.cic.co.kane.il.us/eForms.php?desSearch=subpoena&menu1=eforms.php&nam eSearch=&submit=Search
there was a criminal sub, subpoena duces and subpoena for testimony.

I researched examples in the law library but did not have the clerk serve them...I had thoughts about that.

Even from this last post there is a sub for testimony that is different from a sub duces tecum.


But from the statement from the served party, it does sound like the failure to have it served by the court is what they are referring to. I think you are lucky you got the response you did since they could have just ignored it and let you chase through the courts trying to force them to comply with the subpoena only finally telling you it was not served properly after many efforts in the courts.

The court does not need to serve it, they need to issue it. Each court does this differently. Some federal districts will hand over signed subpoena forms for the plaintiff/defendant to fill out and serve while others require the party to fill out a subpoena and submit it to the clerk to sign and return for the party to serve. I am sure some courts require a submission of a subpoena to the court who will then serve it for a fee. It all depends.

Ok, I was banging my head against the wall and gave myself a headache reading and re-reading the actual subpoena over. I think I may have found the issue, If I'm correct I need to go the the clerks office that is in the local courthouse and have them get a judge to sign the subpoena. The "terminology" looks correct compared to the examples given in Illinois and what I found in the law library.

This may have been what some were trying to convey...

Does this sound feasible?

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This is for future readers, I called the Circuit Clerk's office of Kane County (normally that's taboo because they are quick to dismiss giving any legal advice) and they informed me that the Clerk in fact signs the subpoena and that would be considered a properly issued Subpoena Duces Tecum, come on...say it with me "Subpoena Duces Tecum," just rolls of the tongue doesn't it? haha. what a weird name...I know many words are derived from Latin but wowza that's a strange one.

Thank you for everyone's effort in steering me in the right direction, it was this site that prompted me to look outside the terminology of the actual subpoena and look at the parameters in which it was prepared/issued.

muchos gracias my legal hermanos

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Oooooh $hit, one last question I forgot to ask them and you guys:

does my SDT have to be served on the person who performed the interview? or would have it sent to HR suffice? I have received a SDT for previous employees pay structure etc. but I wasn't certain if the requirements for whom the subpoenas are mailed/sent to vary depending upon the type of subpoena?

Thanks