Divorce Process Steps

Any kind of a relationship, which is positive and invigorating for a person when it comes to an end, inevitably brings excruciating pain along with it. Be it friendship or a romantic relationship or marriage. I think the most difficult amongst these to deal with a marital discord leading to a separation and divorce. As if the person does not have enough to go through mentally, he or she has to go from pillar to post to get a legal divorce. The legal process of divorce is not short and compact. After a number of trials and tribulations, the couple can hope to get divorce. In some cases, they may not even get divorce. But that is not the concern of this article. In this article, there will be an elaboration of divorce process steps.

Steps in Divorce Process

There are around 6 to 7 steps that are involved when an individual goes to court for divorce. A divorce proceeding typically includes these aspects.

Step 1 - Petition
Obviously an individual has to file a petition in the court for dissolution of marriage. The person filing the petition is called the plaintiff and the spouse is the defendant. A few basic facts about an individual, his or her spouse and children are set forth in the petition. Further, the 'grounds' of divorce will have to be stated in the petition. There are fault grounds (adultery, impotency, physical and mental cruelty, desertion and so on) and no fault grounds to be addressed in the petition.

Step 2 - Service of Process
After the petition is filed in the court, in the due course, it is necessary that the respondent be served with summons and a petition to appear in the court. This is one of the difficult junctures in the legal divorce process.

Step 3 - Response
The individual's spouse at this juncture gets a 30-day period to respond to the petition after he or she receives it. Typically the defendant will hire a divorce lawyer as soon as he or she is sent the divorce papers. It is important for getting proper divorce advice. In case the spouse fails to file a formal response, there is a provision that the plaintiff may ask the court to enter a default judgment. In such cases, the evidence that the spouse had got the petition but failed to respond is given. The judge then most probably grants divorce and divides the marital property equitably. On the other hand on filing of the response by the defendant, the divorce attorneys discuss in case temporary support has to be ordered.

Step 4 - Investigation, Negotiation and Settlement
Another important stage. Here there is a determination of the overall value of the marital estate or 'discovery'. This typically entails depositions, subpoenas, interrogatories and review of financial documents by accounting experts. The negotiations for settlement commence once the value of marital estate is determined. Subject to negotiation are issues like custody and visitation.

Step 5 - Pre-Trial Conference
The divorce attorneys can choose to submit the issues in controversy to the judge in course of a pretrial conference. These are held in the chamber of the judge in charge of the case. Judge here at this point of time makes recommendations for a divorce settlement, after the attorneys put forth their arguments. These recommendations are not at all binding on the divorce lawyers, but these are important as an indication of how the judge thinks the case should be settled.

The final step in the event of both parties not able to reach an agreement is the courtroom drama, that is the trial. With loads of petitions and cases already lined up, the parties could have to wait for as long as 6 months for a trial date. Interviewing potential witnesses, reviewing expert reports, taking depositions and so on are done as a preparation for the trial. These steps are a general outline of the process and may vary slightly from one state to another.

At the end of the day, the divorce process and cost are two tough things to handle. But as they say when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That's it. I hope this was useful.