Ex parte

Something that is done without one of the parties present. These are strongly disfavored. In family law, two situations permit an ex parte hearing with a judge- (1) A hearing on a Petition for Order of Protection, (2) when a party request requests emergency temporary orders. In both situations, the potential urgent need for the safety of one of the parties or their children justifies an ex parte communication. Even then, any resulting order is generally of short duration and the Court will set generally quick return hearing. There is a third type of ex parte hearing, though, and that is when a party fails to show up for a hearing for which they had notice; in that case, the hearing can still go forward and the non-showing party may even be defaulted; there, there’s less concern about fairness because the non-showing party had notice and chose not to attend.