Hon. Veronica Romero Guerrero — Part IA-29 Rules

Hon. Veronica Romero Guerrero

Supreme Court, Bronx County

Matrimonial Part 29

851 Grand Concourse

Bronx, New York 10451

Part 29 Rules

Principal Law Clerk

Assistant Law Clerk:

Sophia Velez, Esq. Decnis Pimentel, Esq.

Email

svelez@nycourts.gov Email: dpimentel@nycourts.gov

Part Clerk:

Keenya Murray

Email

bxsupciv-ia29@nycourts.gov

Courtroom telephone

(718) 618-1479

All appearances are in-person unless otherwise directed by the court.

Calendar:

Compliance Conferences

Tuesdays and Thursdays

Preliminary Conferences and Oral Argument on Motions: Mondays and Tuesdays

General Part Rules:

Consent To Change Counsel

If any represented litigant decides to represent themselves,

counsel shall file an Order to Show Cause to be relieved. A Consent to Change Form is only

permitted when the party is moving from one attorney to another attorney.

Mediation

Eligible cases may, at the Court’s discretion, be referred to mediation.

All appearing counsel shall have sufficient authority and knowledge of the case to

meaningfully conference the matter and arrive at resolution.

All counsel appearing for virtual appearances shall be appropriately attired and appear in

a professional settling.

Adjournments:

Adjournment requests require Court approval and must be made at least three days prior to the

scheduled appearance. All adjournment requests shall be directed to Part 29 Clerk by email at

bxsupciv-ia29@nycourts.gov. All adjournment requests shall include reason for request and three

proposed adjourn dates and times. If granted, the Court shall notify the parties of date chosen.

Parties are expected to appear unless the adjournment is explicitly granted by the Court.

1

Communications:

Ex-parte communications will not be entertained by the Court or its’ staff.

Correspondence, including e-mails, between counsel or between the parties shall not be

copied to chambers.

If an issue regarding a pending matter arises, a brief e-mail may be sent to both Law Clerks and

all parties requesting a conference.

Motions:

ALL MOTIONS SHALL BE BY ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE

Parties must request a conference prior to filing any motion papers to allow the opportunity to

resolve the matter. It is strongly suggested that parties consult one another in a good faith effort

to resolve any disputes prior to requesting a conference with the Court.

Pendente lite issues may be resolved at the preliminary conference.

All motions seeking any financial relief MUST include an updated Net Worth Statement. The

responding party shall file with their responding papers an updated Net Worth Statement.

Oral argument is required on all Orders to Show Cause unless otherwise directed by the Court.

Preliminary Conferences:

No adjournments of the Preliminary Conference. Statements of Net Worth must be filed with the

Court ten days prior to the Preliminary Conference.

Upon your appearance for your Preliminary Conference the Preliminary Conference form must

be completed and ready for the Judge’s signature. If the parties cannot agree as to the

Preliminary Conference Order, counsel and/or parties shall come with proposed PC Orders.

Compliance Conferences:

At least one (1) day prior to any compliance or status conference, the attorneys and/or parties

must upload to NYSCEF a jointly completed Compliance Conference Order or a jointly

completed Status Conference Order, as appropriate, to be So-Ordered by the Court.

Counsel shall be prepared to discuss, in detail, any discovery disputes, which will be resolved at

the conference. As with all other motions, parties must request a conference prior to filing any

discovery motions. Counsel shall be prepared to discuss, in detail, any other non-discovery

issues.

Trials:

Cases scheduled for trial, hearing or fact-finding, will be in-person unless otherwise directed. All

cases scheduled for trial in Part 29 will be scheduled for a pre-trial conference.

Two weeks prior to the pre-trial conference, counsel or the parties shall file and exchange

the following documents:

2

a. A statement of proposed disposition, a child support worksheet (if applicable), updated net

worth statements, and most recently filed tax returns.

b. A witness list, with meaningful offer of proof for each witness.

c. A list of documents and facts which counsel may stipulate into evidence. The documents to be

pre-marked as exhibits. Such list will be read into the record at commencement of trial.

d. Any expert reports not previously exchanged.

e. Marked pleadings and any pre-trial memoranda.

f. Proof of filing of the note of issue

Prepared Direct Examination of Witnesses by Affidavit: The court has a protocol for the use of

prepared direct examination of witnesses by affidavit. Counsel should be prepared to discuss use

of this protocol at the pre-trial conference. Please note that direct examination by affidavit is only

permitted for financial issues.

Subpoenas shall not direct a party to appear for trial unless specifically arranged by the Court.

Instead, subpoenas may direct the production of documents and certified records and production

of a witness must be directed/permitted by the Court.

E-filing:

New contested matrimonial cases in Part 29 are encouraged to be e-filed through the New York

State E-Filing System (NYSCEF).

Please note that only documents filed after the conversion are accessible through NYSCEF, so

early conversions (including before a preliminary conference) are encouraged.

Any questions regarding the e-filing system should be addressed to the NYSCEF Resource

Center at nyscef@nycourts.gov.

For all converted cases, any open motions pending before the Court which were previously paper

filed must have their underlying papers uploaded to NYSCEF after conversion.

Judgments:

All judgments must be submitted within 60 days, or the action will be deemed abandoned and

dismissed. All QDROs must be submitted within 45 days of the signing of the judgment and

must be accompanied by written plan approval. Counter judgments must be submitted within the

statutory time limit, or they will be rejected.

3