Do You Need a Divorce Lawyer for An Uncontested Divorce?

An Uncontested Divorce

            A divorce that is not contested by you or your spouse is one that you two decide everything together without issues. You have decided to end your marriage and you have also decided how to split your assets that you might have. You might also have decided on child custody and any child support payments and spousal support payments. If you feel the same way on all of this, an uncontested divorce would be for you, saving yourself time and money.

There are companies that promise that you can do an uncontested divorce without the assistance of a lawyer, but you need to be careful of these places. You can always call an attorney for a consultation to see what it would cost you to use an attorney for your divorce. You could contact https://www.parousislaw.com/ for more information about the uncontested divorce. They can help you to decide if you need an attorney to file for your divorce.

This article will help you to decide if you can do the divorce on your own or if you need to talk to an attorney to make sure everything is done correctly. It is still best for you to talk to an attorney rather than trying to decide everything completely on your own. This article will give you some steps to look at.

1. You, as the Petitioner, Need to Decide a Few Things

According to Connolly Suthers lawyers in Cairns, there are a few ways to end your marriage, and you need to decide which is best for you. You could choose divorce, legal separation, or annulment as the ways to end your marriage.

A divorce is a legal end to your marriage and allows you and your spouse to go your separate ways and be able to marry again if you so choose. A legal separation is just an agreement to be separated but not completely divorced. An annulment is when your marriage is treated as if it had never happened in the first place.

2. Communicate With Your Spouse

You need to communicate with your spouse to decide how you want things done. Do you agree on divorce, legal separation, or annulment? You also need to agree with all the aspects of the divorce such as what to do with your assets and how much, if anything, each spouse will get for spousal support. If there are children involved, do you have a custody arrangement set up? Is there going to be child support, and if so, how much? You will need to have all this information decided when you go to see your attorney.

3. Complete Forms

You, as the petitioner, will have to fill out all the forms necessary for the divorce, annulment, or separation. There are many forms that are necessary for you to fill out. Your attorney can help you with the paperwork, or you can fill it all out on your own. You can see here for any paperwork that needs to be filled out. This will help you to decide if you want to do this on your own or have an attorney assist you.

4. File the Paperwork

If you are doing this on your own, you will need to take all the forms to the court clerk at the courthouse. If you have an attorney to help you, that person will take the forms for you. You will need to pay court costs in order to file the paperwork. If you cannot afford the fees, there is usually a waiver that you can apply for.

5. Serve the Papers

Someone, not you, will need to serve the papers that say that you are filing for divorce to the respondent, the person you are divorcing. This should not be a surprise for your spouse since you hopefully have talked about it so you can do an uncontested divorce. This is still a step that needs to be done so that it is all legal in the court system.

6. The Respondent Responds

Since you are doing an uncontested divorce, this part is probably already done. You have come together to agree on all the details of the divorce, and it should be all worked out. If there is domestic violence involved, you cannot do an uncontested divorce.

7. Respondent Files Paperwork

The respondent has thirty days to file any paperwork that is necessary for their response, if there is any response. The respondent will need to pay for any court fees that are attached to this. Since you have already agreed with everything, this step might not be necessary.

8. Petitioner is Served with Response

This is another step that might not be necessary if you have already agreed to everything. An adult that is over eighteen years old will need to serve these papers. Proof of service papers will need to be filed at the courthouse for a small fee.

9. Declaration of Disclosure

This is the form that is filed to show which partner gets which assets and any monetary obligations. This is done to make sure that each partner gets what they agreed to and that each partner has a list of debts that they need paid.

10. Divorce or Separation is Finalized

After six months, your divorced can be finalized, if all the paperwork is filed and has no issues. If you have agreed to everything in the paperwork, there may be no need to go before a judge. More paperwork needs to be filed with the courthouse before it can become final. This should be an easy step and will just cost you a small fee to file the paperwork.

You can file for an uncontested divorce on your own if you choose to, but it is always better if you have legal counsel to help you to go through the process. An attorney can help to make sure that all the paperwork is filed correctly and that all steps have been taken. An uncontested divorce can be less expensive than other divorces because there is less work for the attorney to do.