How to Cross-Examine A Witness In Family Court
If you've never been through a divorce or civil lawsuit before, your only knowledge of courtroom procedure may come from movies and television programs where bulldog attorneys tear the other side's witnesses to shreds under brutal cross-examination. Although trial specifics vary from state to state, you will probably be trying your family law case before a judge, not a jury, who has a great deal of experience in not only deciding domestic cases but also litigating them herself. This demands a cross-examination technique that focuses less on theatrics and more on the flaws in your opponent's case.
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Instructions
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Prepare to cross-examine witnesses by carefully reviewing all trial material well in advance and re-reviewing them every chance you get during the trial. Possessing a detailed understanding of the facts will help you spot inconsistencies or thin spots in a witness' testimony. Your job on cross-examination is to highlight these inconsistencies and show the judge how unreliable the witness' memory is.
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Develop a theory of the case before trial. Think of conclusions you want the court to draw -- your child's mother is lying about how much she earns as a hairdresser, for example -- and think of the facts that support that conclusion. Highlight these facts in cross-examination. A common mistake is to browbeat a conclusion out of a witness but your child's mother probably won't confess to lying about her income. Instead, get her to admit on the stand that she's current on her rent and all her bills, that she bought a new car last year and that she just took your kids to the beach for a week. Save the conclusions for your closing argument.
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Ask leading questions. While you may not be allowed to do this on direct examination of your own witnesses, your cross-examination should be in the form of conclusory questions that demand a yes or no answer from the witness. You're not actually asking him anything; you're telling him the answer and getting her to state whether it's true or false. Instead of "Where were you last weekend," you should ask "You went to Myrtle Beach last weekend, isn't that right?" Asking open-ended questions is sometimes necessary but avoid it like the plague.
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Recognize when to stop. Some witnesses will be so overwhelmingly positive for the other side that nothing you can do on cross will disarm them. If you can't somehow discredit their testimony through cross-examination, get them off the stand as soon as possible. Similarly, once you've scored your points on cross-examination with a witness, quit asking questions and move on. Don't give her a chance to turn the tables on you.
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Recognize when you don't need to cross-examine a witness. Some witnesses won't say anything you disagree with; others won't say anything relevant. Don't try the judge's patience and waste valuable time on a cross-examination that won't produce anything of value for your side.
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References
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