Divorce Steps

Divorce is regarded as a disintegration of the union of two people formed by marriage. It is a legal matter and therefore, it is handled by appellate courts and county courts in the state. As marriage is one of the vital parts of human life, dissolution of this bond is always painful. But divorce should be taken by proper way by following all legalities to avoid any problems in future. It is important to know the divorce procedure and stages of it.

Divorce Steps broadly include the following steps:

• Filling divorce forms and submitting them in the court
• Servicing the documents
• Filing of the Answer and Counterclaim
• Default procedure
• Mediation process
• Hearings in the court and presentation of the parties
• Trials
• Final decree of the divorce
• Appeals to get relief from the decision

The different states in the United States have specified documents for purpose of filing for a dissolution of marriage. Also, the documents required for a no fault divorce, contested divorce and uncontested divorce also vary. Every state has its own rules and regulations regarding the selection of the venue for filing these documents. Generally, a court clerk is responsible for supervising the submission of these documents.

The next step for breaking the marriage is the servicing the documents to other spouse. It is observed that one of the partners file for a divorce without discussing it with the other one. This happens in the case of a divorce taken under the grounds of violence or adultery. In this case, it is essential to inform the other partner about a petition for divorce. That is called as servicing the documents and having the proofs for acceptance of such notices.

Usually, for servicing the documents, any one of the following methods can be used.

• Personal service by an applicant
• Service through Sheriff or deputy of Sheriff
• Through private mediums of service like courier or first class mail
• Through constable or local legal authority in that county
• If all other solutions fail then by publication of the notice in local newspaper

After the service, a spouse has to sign the documents in order to accept them. The Defendant (Respondent), that is a spouse to whom a notice is served, may take one of the following steps.

• Not to file the Answer and reject a petition of divorce outright
• To file the Answer and thereby agree to the Complaint for divorce
• To file the Answer and thereby disagree with some or all points in the Complaint for divorce as well as file the counter-case

The first step mentioned in the answering procedure of defendant results in a Default Divorce. The Plaintiff is granted whatever is requested without any court procedure. That is often known as an uncontested divorce.

In the second step also, the Plaintiff is granted all that is desired. It is considered as mutual separation of a couple. Thus, the divorce procedure is over within a short period.

However, the third step of the defendant may lead to different processes as follows.

• The court might order mediation by involving a third party as a mediator
• There may be a mediation hearing or counseling before trials
• If the case is very complex, then there is the series of hearings that includes lawyers and spouses
• The hearing during which the judge takes the final decision regarding all divorce issues and signs the Divorce Decree is called as the Final Hearing
• If any one of the spouses is not satisfied with a court decision, he or she can apply for putting a stay on court order and initiate a court procedure for solving the case again.

In this way, divorce steps can be explained. The steps for divorce have no particular format as every case of a dissolution of marriage is different. The procedure of ending a marriage will depend entirely on the mutual relations of partners, terms of divorce and type of a divorce.