Rule 360.Intervention
Last amended January 1, 2020 · Last verified July 1, 2026
Full Text of Rule 360
Amendment History
- (Amended effective July 1, 2015.)
- (Amended effective January 1, 2020.)
Plain-English Summary
Rule 360 gives the county agency an automatic path into a case, to the extent the law allows. Because the agency represents the public interest in child support, it can intervene as a matter of right by serving a notice of intervention on the parties and filing that notice with proof of service; intervention becomes effective once the last person on the list has been served.
Anyone else who wants in has to ask. A person seeking permissive intervention must file and serve a motion explaining how their legal rights, duties, or privileges will be determined or affected by the case, how they will be directly affected by its outcome, why they want to intervene, and what statute lets them do so. Any existing party can object in writing within 14 days of being served with that motion, and if nobody objects in time, the magistrate can grant intervention without a hearing. If someone does object, the magistrate can either hold a hearing or decide the question on the papers.
Intervention does not reach backward. A magistrate can keep holding hearings, making findings, and issuing orders while a request to intervene is still pending, and none of that earlier work is undone once intervention is granted or denied. Once intervention does take effect, the only immediate change is procedural: the case caption is amended to add the intervenor's name after the names of the original parties.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a county agency need permission to intervene in an expedited process case?
No, not from the magistrate. To the extent the law allows it, a county agency may intervene as a matter of right just by serving a notice of intervention on the parties and filing it with the court, without needing the magistrate's approval.
How does another person ask to intervene in a child support case?
That person must file and serve a motion explaining how the case affects their legal rights, duties, or privileges, how they are directly affected by the outcome, and what statute allows them to intervene, and then wait to see whether any existing party objects.
How long do the parties have to object to someone else's motion to intervene?
An existing party has 14 days from being served with the motion to file a written objection; without a timely objection, the magistrate can grant the motion without holding a hearing.
Does an intervention request pause the case while it is pending?
No. A magistrate can continue to hold hearings, make findings, and issue orders while a request to intervene is still pending, and none of that earlier work is affected by whether intervention is later granted or denied.
What changes once someone is allowed to intervene in a case?
The case caption is amended to add the intervenor's name, listed after the names of the original parties, and the intervenor becomes a party going forward from the date intervention was granted.