Rule 57 Declaratory Judgments

A declaratory judgment is when you ask a court to officially decide your legal rights or responsibilities, even if no one has broken any rules yet. For example, you might want a court to clarify who owns something or whether a contract is valid before a dispute gets worse.

You can ask for a declaratory judgment even if you have other ways to solve your problem. Having other options does not stop you from using this path if a court decides it makes sense for your situation.

Courts can also move these cases up in the schedule and hear them sooner than other cases. This means you may not have to wait as long to get an answer about your legal rights.