California family law discovery is not limited to asking questions or requesting documents. A party may also serve Requests for Admission, which ask the other party to formally admit or deny particular facts, opinions, applications of law to fact, or the genuineness of documents. Requests for Admission can narrow the issues that remain disputed and help identify what actually needs to be proven if a California divorce proceeds to trial.

Requests for Admission Can Narrow the Issues in Dispute

A Request for Admission differs from an interrogatory.

An interrogatory asks the responding party to provide information in a written answer. A Request for Admission asks the party to admit that a particular proposition is true or that a specified document is genuine.

This can make Requests for Admission particularly useful when the parties disagree about specific issues.

Rather than spending trial time proving matters that are not genuinely disputed, admissions can establish certain facts in advance and focus the case on the issues the parties actually contest.

Requests can concern facts, opinions relating to facts, applications of law to fact, and the genuineness of documents.

California provides an official Request for Admission form that can be used as part of the discovery process.

The Responding Party Must Address Each Request

A party served with Requests for Admission must respond according to California discovery procedures.

A response can admit the matter, deny it, or address why the responding party cannot truthfully admit or deny the request after making the inquiry required under the discovery rules.

Objections may also be available when legally appropriate.

The responding party should not treat a Request for Admission as an informal questionnaire that can simply be ignored.

If no timely response is provided, the requesting party can seek court relief concerning the unanswered requests. California discovery procedures allow the requesting party to ask the court to have matters deemed admitted when the requirements for that relief are satisfied.

That consequence can be significant because an admission can remove an issue from factual dispute.

The procedure therefore places importance on responding carefully and within the applicable deadlines.

Admissions Can Have Important Consequences at Trial

The principal purpose of Requests for Admission is to eliminate the need to prove matters that should not reasonably remain disputed.

That can make them useful when a California divorce involves numerous factual or documentary issues.

For example, a request may seek admission of a particular fact relevant to a property dispute or ask a party to admit the genuineness of a document that may later be offered as evidence.

Requests for Admission can also have financial consequences when a party unreasonably refuses to admit a matter that is later proven.

Under California discovery procedures, a party who proves the truth of a matter that the other side improperly failed to admit may, when the applicable requirements are met, seek an order requiring the other party to pay reasonable expenses incurred in making that proof.

This makes Requests for Admission more than a fact-finding device. They can encourage the parties to identify genuine disputes rather than requiring unnecessary proof of matters that should have been admitted.

Requests for Admission Help Define What Actually Needs to Be Proven

Requests for Admission can make California family law litigation more focused by establishing facts or document authenticity before trial. Unlike interrogatories, they generally do not ask the other party to provide a narrative explanation; they ask the party to admit or deny a specific proposition. Failure to respond properly can have significant procedural consequences, while unreasonable denials may create potential cost consequences if the requesting party later has to prove the matter.