Next date

Presence is not necessary. After submission of written statement, judge will give an other date to follow for issues and submission of documents etc. for evidences. 

@Ramchary ji: Thanks for your reply.

The reason is that due to work commitments, I may not be in town on that day. I was not sure if my prescence would be required on that day or not...else I will have to take leave from work and travel long distance to be there in the court when the other party is going to file their written statement.

So..as per your reply, my prescence is not required,

Hello Experts,

 Any other opinions or suggestions?

In our Courts, informality, timing, etc. are all part of the litigation strategy and is taken very casually by Courts, unless the delay is very long. Do not be too bothered, from the Judge's point of view, about your presence in Court unless it is absolutely required. For example, for your own cross-examination. At the same time, in my opinion, presence in Court is required because most advocates cannot be trusted. They may make an admission or statement or allow an application filed by the other party, which may appear to be innocuous but may hurt your case.  During cross-examination, they may actually not ask the right questions or accept wrong answers when you know that other questions can be asked to expose the falsity.  Such reasons, in my opinion, are very compelling ones, to be present. 

When a party files a Written Statement(WS) in response to a petition/suit, nothing really happens. The filing is recorded and the next date is announced for the next stage.  That's a topic for another discussion.  

Hi Samir,

 Thanks so much for your help. Can you please elaborate on the second part of your reply "That's a topic for another discussion. "?

This is a long discussion but here's the procedure in a nutshell. Its not exhaustive but indicative of what will follow... I am NOT an advocate. This is my understanding based upon my own experience and some reading.

• == Opposing party submits WS.
• == Judge "frames issues." In other words, narrows the dispute.   
• == Petitioner submits Affidavit.
• == Cross examination of Petitioner begins.
• == Respondent submits Affidavit.
• == Cross examination of Respondent begins.
• == Other witnesses are examined.
• == Evidence stage is closed after all evidence and witnesses are presented.
• == Trial closed.
• == Judge sets date for arguments.
• == Arguments made. Make sure that you submit written arguments, whether asked or not.
• == Judge issues Final Judgement and decree. Case closed. Judge now has no jurisdiction to do anything in the case.  Jurisdiction is transferred to appellate court if an appeal is filed.

There are many other applications that can be filed (at any stage or some are only allowed at certain stages), such as application for interim relief (e.g. interim maintenance), application to frame additional issues or amend the issues, application to issue witness summons (to bring a witness, e.g. Bank Officer to provide financial statement and history of the wife's/husband's accounts), application to recall a witness, application to present new evidence not available earlier, etc. As you can see, if a party wants to prolong the case, there are SO MANY avenues to do so! Additionally, most Family Court judges are junior ones and are not sophisticated in matters of law. If you try to present many judgments and legal theories, they get bowled and you will see that your case will get prolonged even further. Family Court judges do not like to deal with advanced legal theories. The dumber the parties and their advocates, the faster the case moves in Family Courts.  

Most advocates keep litigants in the dark making the entire process look like a black-box.  Actually, as you can see, it is simple and surprisingly logical. I wish I had this info when I entered Family Court. You owe me a cup of coffee for enlightening you on this... -:) 

Mr. Samir has very clearly explained the court procedures when a case is filed till its disposal properly and very accurately.  The skeleton outline given by Mr. Samir is what is a trial proceedings procedure.

Now to your query,   you do not have to be compulsorily present in the court of the date of hearing while the opposite party is filing their written statement, your advocate will receive a copy, you can go through it. At next stage when issues are framed, you may have to be present for enquiry/trial.  Be in touch with your lawyer, he will inform and update you the latest developments.