Feel free to explore my website to learn more about the divorce and/or custody process and below is a roadmap to help explain the divorce process step-by-step.
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Throughout the steps of a divorce, your attorneys should be constantly assessing when and if a settlement proposal is appropriate. After all, a settlement is often your better, faster, less expensive, more certain, and less stressful way to resolve a divorce. Your attorneys will help you determine if any settlement is fair and in accordance with your rights. In addition, your attorneys will always pass onto you any settlement proposals that they receive from the other side and always help you access how to respond.
No lawyer should be telling you whether or not it is time for you to get a divorce. That is a decision you should make yourself, with your friends, family, confidants, therapists, priests, rabbis or imams, but not with your lawyer. However, once you have made a decision to divorce, you should immediately begin consulting with an attorney. Often, there are a number of things that can be done before you actually file for a divorce, and you should begin the process of finding an attorney with the knowledge and experience that you can trust to walk you through this process.
Sometimes you aren’t sure if you are ready for a divorce because you want to know what the ramifications of a divorce would be. After all, how are you supposed to make a decision about something when you aren’t sure about the consequences of that decision? For that reason, Heidi “Doc” Holliday will help you walk through these steps.
This is probably the most important decision you can make, which will impact how your divorce goes. You have many things to consider, there are large and small law firms, expensive firms and less expensive firms, and there are one-lawyer firms. Ultimately, once you’ve done your research, it is important to find an attorney that you feel comfortable working with because you could be working together for a long time. Make sure you understand how the lawyer will communicate with you (i.e. answers your questions), make sure the lawyer is being honest with you.
Divorces really begin once you have found and retainer (i.e. hired) an attorney to work with. At this early age, your attorney will gather information about your case and work with you on how to prepare the initial filings. The divorce is officially began in court once your attorney files a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. The next step is serving your spouse with the papers. Heidi “Doc” Holliday will explain and walk you through the details of each of these steps.
In the very early stages of the divorce, your Heidi “Doc” Holliday will work with you on completing a comprehensive financial disclosure affidavit that is to be exchanged with your spouse. This typically has to be done before the court will begin ruling on any financial issues such as maintenance and child support. Since stabilizing our client’s financial situation is one of our first priorities, this form is often one of the first points of focus in your case. In addition, once we receive your spouses financial disclosure form, we will collectively be able to make an early assessment of the financial components of your divorce.
One of the earliest issues addressed in the case is whether or not the parties are going to be able to agree on a parenting schedule and a division of parental responsibilities (formerly known as “custody”). Normally, the court will retain the status quo for parenting time (e.g. the parent that typically drives a child to school will continue to drive a child to school), however, in many divorces the parties cannot agree on what the status quo was. Your attorney will work with you to help address all these early issues, and if the parties cannot reach an early agreement on parenting issues, the court will have both parties attend mediation.
The “discovery” phase in a divorce (or any litigation) is exactly what it sounds like. This is the part of the process when you “discover” things about the other side. During discovery you can ask formal questions from your spouse in writing (interrogatories) and request the production of documents in their possession or control (requests for production). This helps both you and Heidi “Doc” Holliday either confirm what your spouse says or gather information to prove your spouse is wrong. For example, it can be used to verify the information claimed in your spouse’s financial affidavit or to gather complex information about your spouse’s business records.
As cases near a conclusion, without a settlement occurring or being close on the horizon, Heidi “Doc” Holliday will begin having to prepare the case for trial. This is something, most people prefer to avoid, but sometimes you have to fight for what you believe is best for your child(ren) or what you are entitled to under the law (especially if your spouse is being unreasonable). In addition to trial preparation, Heidi “Doc” Holliday will explain and walk you through every step: Pre-Trial, Depositions and Finalizing Discovery.
There are two ways: Settlement and Trial.
Settlement: Divorces end in only one of two ways: (1) you and your ex reach a settlement agreement; or (2) you have a trial and the court imposes a solution. There is an old adage that “a bad settlement is better than a good trial,” and most of the time that is true. A settlement of the financial issues in your case will be drafted using a Marital Settlement Agreement (“MSA”); and the settlement of the parenting issues (if you have minor children) will be drafted as a Parental Allocation Judgment (f/k/a a “Custody Judgment” or “Joint Parenting Agreement” (“JPA”)). Settling usually requires reasonableness on both sides and for both parties to compromise; though, settling should not mean giving the other party everything they want just because they refuse to compromise. Nonetheless, a decision whether or not to settle is something you should discuss in detail with your attorneys. You should understand the pros and cons of settling and going forwards to trial.
Trial: Trial is and should be your last resort. However, if your spouse is being unreasonable when it comes to settlement, you must be prepared to fight for what you are legally entitled to. Also, make sure you find an attorney that has the skills and experience to take your case to trial.
