One of the most frustrating things about litigation, especially for a litigant, is when a case gets continued.
Litigation can be is very frustrating for all involved.
I think the continuance becomes most frustrating for parties in divorce cases. Divorces and child custody matters can have numerous court dates in a relatively short period of time.
Often, time off from work is a major issue for litigants.
My only advice is to be prepared. I counsel clients to attempt to resolve matters out of court that can be resolved so that they can avoid the time and expense of taking days off from work only to have nothing happen in their case.
Continuances happen for a variety of reasons, off the top of my head here are some of them:
- A party is unable to attend court;
- A lawyer has a scheduling conflict that cannot be resolved;
- The matter is not ready for a hearing (e.g. the parties are waiting on a 3rd party to provide documentation);
- Illness; and
- There is a likelyhood of the matter settling without a hearing.
Some if not all of these things are unavoidable and our system cannot work if matters did not get marked over which is why lawyers commonly agree to continuances.