When Filing for Divorce

By Camerin Hawthorne

Filing for divorce is one of the most painful events you can experience as the years of working on a relationship have melted away and all that is left is picking up the pieces. For couples who have tried everything, divorces are generally the last act that signals the final separation for their lives.

Although fairly common, filing for divorce is not nearly as simple and straightforward as it might appear. There are a few steps you will need to take so you can do things in the right order and have the process go as smoothly as possible. What follows are the steps necessary to file for divorce after you have tried everything else to save the relationship.

Get a Divorce Lawyer

The first step you need to take is finding the right divorce attorney, preferably one who has handled a number of divorce cases. While there may be a great number of divorce lawyers in your area, you'll need to do a bit of research first to find the best one that fits your needs.

Confirm the Court for Petition

You will need to verify which court to file the petition for divorce. This is perhaps the simplest matter in the proceedings since all you need to do is contact your local court house and ask. Depending on where you live, there may be specified family courts where your petition will need to be filed.

The No-Fault Divorce Option

At this point, you will need to decide whether to choose the no-fault divorce option or whether one person should be responsible for the failure of the marriage. Most divorces are no-fault which generally means that less work is required, but that is not always the case.

Once you have decided which option to choose, the next step is selecting which person is going to file the petition. It is not so much which person makes the filing, but that at least one of you takes the responsibility to file for the divorce.

Temporary Custody & Providing Proof of Service

At this point, all papers that involve temporary custody needs to be filed if you have children. By taking action now, you can spare them some of the bad effects that divorce can bring. Once that has been decided, the next step is a small, but very important one which is proof that the divorce papers have been served to your spouse or attorney. The serving of such papers should be done discreetly if possible.

How to Make this Process Go Quickly

While divorces may seem to take forever in some cases, you must realize that there are certain events that must take place during the timeframe for divorce. If you are engaging in a "no-fault" divorce, then you'll want to keep the court process going as quickly as possible, especially if there are no children involved.

Overall, divorce procedures are not pleasant, but they can be orderly if you and your spouse come to a mutual agreement at the beginning of the process. The more you can explain what you want, the better and more quickly the divorce proceedings will occur.

Camerin Hawthorne

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