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If you don't get a response to your discovery request

If the other person doesn’t respond to your discovery request, or their answers aren’t complete, you have options to get the information you need.

 

📅 You usually have 45 days to act.

 

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Try to work it out first

Before asking the court for help, you must try to fix the problem directly with the other person (or their lawyer, if they have one).

You may need to do this if the other person:

  • Skipped questions you checked

  • Didn’t fully answer a question

  • Refused to answer without a valid reason

  • Didn’t respond at all

What to do

  • Write to them and explain what’s missing or incorrect

  • Ask when you’ll get complete answers

  • Keep your message clear and polite

  • Save copies of all emails or letters

If they send updated answers:

  • Review them carefully

  • If they’re still incomplete, you can write again

Keep records of your communications

To ask a judge to require the other person to respond, you must show that you tried to work things out first. This is called meet and confer. Meet and confer means you made a real effort to resolve the problem, but still did not get complete answers.

What you must document

To show the judge you met this requirement, you’ll need proof, including:

1. A copy of your written request

This can be a letter or email you sent to the other person (or their attorney, if they have one). It should:

  • Ask them to respond or give complete responses

  • Explain what questions were skipped or incomplete

  • State that because they missed the deadline, the law may limit their ability to refuse or object to answering

  • Give them another clear deadline to respond

2. Proof they received your request

You must also show the judge that the other person actually got your message. This can include:

  • An email reply from them (even a short response can be enough)

  • Proof of Service if you mailed the letter the same way you served the Form Interrogatories

  • A receipt or confirmation showing proof of delivery

📌 Keep copies of everything.

You’ll need these documents if you ask the court for an order.

Ask the court to order a response

If the other person still doesn’t respond, or their responses are still incomplete, you can ask the court to order them to respond.

📅 Deadline

  • You have 45 days from the date the most recent responses were served

  • If the responses were served by mail, add 5 extra days

  • If the deadline falls on a weekend or court holiday, it moves to the next court day

⚠️ If you miss this deadline, you accept the responses as given.

Possible consequences for the other person

If the other person missed deadlines, they may

  • Give up their right to object to a question in an interrogatory

  • Be ordered to pay fees or costs you spent asking for the order

How to ask the court to order your spouse to respond

  • Fill out a Request for Order

    Use Request for Order (form FL-300)

    • Check the box for "Other" in the Request for Order box and write:
      “Compel further responses to Form Interrogatories – Family Law”
    • In item 8 "Other", write the same thing

  • Explain the problem (item 10)

    • If you got no response:
      Explain that you didn’t receive any responses and couldn’t resolve the issue through meet and confer
    • If you got incomplete responses:
      Explain what was missing or improper and that you tried to resolve it informally

  • Attach copies of:

    • The Form Interrogatories you served

    • The Proof of Service for those forms

    • Your meet-and-confer letters or emails

    • Proof the other person received them (for example a Proof of Service form or a receipt of delivery from the post office)

  • FIle your forms

    • File everything with the court clerk

    • Pay the filing fee

    • The clerk will give you a court date

    At the hearing, the judge will decide whether the other person must provide the missing information.

Key takeaways 

  • You must try to work things out before asking the court

  • Meet and confer means documenting your effort to get responses

  • Keep copies of letters, emails, and proof of delivery

  • 📅 You usually have 45 days to ask the court to order them to respond

  • Missing the deadline means you accept the responses as given

What's next?

If you get the information you need without asking the court for an order, review it carefully and use it to get ready for your trial.

 

If you ask the court for an order, you must serve the filed papers on the other person after you file them. You can serve them by mail.

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