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When a divorce case is filed with the court in King County (the county we do most of our work in), the court issues a case schedule with a number of dates and deadlines on it. One item on the case schedule that many people have questions about is the Status Conference.

The first thing to know is that the Status Conference is only for cases where a Confirmation of Issues has not been filed, or has been filed but without the first box checked. Checking that box indicates that all five of the following are true:

1. All parties have been served or have waived service.
2. All mandatory pleadings have been filed.
3. No additional issues will be raised.
4. The parties anticipate no problems in meeting the deadlines for disclosing possible witnesses and other subsequent deadlines in the Case Schedule.
5. All parties have cooperated in completing this report.

The Status Conference is very simply a meeting with the court where the court is checking in on the status of the case. The court wants to know whether the steps have been accomplished for the case to be able to proceed to trial. Basically, it is asking why the Confirmation of Issues has not been filed. That really comes down to has to other party been served and have they filed a response to the petition. If that has not been accomplished, the court may instruct you on steps you need to take to get the case on track, such as filing for default.

If you are completing a Confirmation of Issues, you will also notice the second part of the form called the Certificate Regarding Mediation. What the court is asking here is whether there are parenting issues that have not been worked out, as the case may need to be referred to parenting plan mediation through Family Court Services. This is separate from the general dispute resolution process for all issues that the parties are required to participate in prior to trial.