Rule 508.Declaratory Judgments

Rule 508 is three sentences and does three things.

Procedure

These rules govern the procedure for obtaining a declaratory judgment under Idaho's statutes. The declaratory judgment statutes supply the substance — who may sue and what may be declared; the Rules of Family Law Procedure supply the machinery for a declaratory action brought in a family law case.

Another remedy is no bar

The existence of another adequate remedy does not preclude a declaratory judgment that is otherwise appropriate. A party need not show that nothing else would work — the older equitable instinct that declaratory relief is a last resort does not apply.

Speed

The court may order a speedy hearing. Declaratory actions often turn on a legal question about a document rather than on disputed facts, and the rule lets the court move accordingly.

Where it fits in a family case

Declaratory relief is the tool for questions that are not requests for an order against a person: the validity or meaning of a premarital or property settlement agreement, whether a particular asset is community or separate, or the effect of an out-of-state instrument. Where the question is purely legal and the material facts are undisputed, Rule 507's summary judgment procedure often carries the declaratory claim.

Rule 802 governs the form of the resulting judgment, and Rule 813 the appeal.