Rule 31.01.Serving questions -- Notice.

Not every deposition needs a lawyer sitting across the table asking questions live. This rule lets a party take testimony from any person, including another party, through written questions submitted in advance instead. The witness's attendance can be compelled with a subpoena under Rule 45, and if the witness is confined in prison, the deposition can happen only with the court's permission and on whatever terms the court sets.

To start, the party wanting to depose someone this way serves the written questions on every other party along with a notice. That notice has to identify who is going to answer — by name and address if known, or by a description specific enough to identify the person or the group they belong to — and it has to name or describe the officer who will take the deposition and give that officer's address. A corporation, partnership, association, or government agency can be deposed this way too, following the same procedure Rule 30.02(6) uses for organizational depositions taken orally.

After the initial questions are served, other parties get a structured chance to add their own. Cross questions are due within 30 days of service of the notice and questions. Once cross questions are served, redirect questions are due within 10 days. And once redirect questions are served, recross questions are due within 10 days after that. A court can lengthen or shorten any of these deadlines for good cause.