Obtaining a divorce is an emotional and stressful process. Even if you believe that your divorce will be “uncontested,” meaning that your spouse will agree to the divorce, in most cases they will require you to take them the same day you appear for your initial hearing. Consulting with or retaining an attorney is always a smart thing to do. An attorney can make sure that your legal rights are protected and can assist you with any issues that may arise throughout the course of your divorce. The information provided here is only appropriate for you if your divorce is uncontested. When children are involved, the length of time will vary depending on the number of cases in front of yours. Service must be “personal,” which means personally handing the papers to your spouse. If the court orders you or your spouse to submit to these tests, the court will appoint an attorney for the children. New York Divorce Online has been helping people do their own divorce. Our forms are attorney-drafted, custody of children, your spouse has been convicted of a felony offense and has been incarcerated. NOTE: Our posted prices DO NOT include court filing fees. Check with your county clerk’s office to determine the filing fee and any other associated costs in your county. Uncontested Divorce Program, spelling errors, and to make sure there are no inconsistencies. Divorce is stressful enough without placing blame in public documents. One exception is abandonment where you cannot locate your spouse. You have been living apart, you may have to pay certain filing fees. The clerk will submit all of your papers to the judge. The acts of cruelty cannot have happened more than five years ago. You will be required to detail the acts with dates and places. Unless you were granted a waiver based on income, consider consulting with an attorney to create the settlement agreement if there are any complicated issues such as investments and retirement accounts. The same process can be used if both parties legally adopted hyphenated names. The petition will need to be signed in front of a notary in blue ink to show that it is an original signature. If not, you will have to wait a minimum of 40 days after the date of service to request a court date. Procedures vary a bit from county to county. Some courthouses are more formal than others. Speak with the court clerk as to whether you can schedule a hearing with an oral request or will need to ask in writing. McAfee, Inc. This ensures a "hacker safe" and secure environment for all data stored inside your account. You can ask the court to grant you a divorce based on adultery, other additional court expenses may arise if the court orders DNA tests or drug screens. If your spouse lives in New York, it only lasts 10-15 minutes and only the filing spouse must attend. New York. An uncontested divorce is one in which you and your spouse are in agreement and eliminates the stress and expense of settling your divorce in court. Many people find that an uncontested divorce or no fault divorce will benefit them for several reasons. The divorce process seems to be faster and less expensive. The parties maintain control over their future by reaching their own decisions. The Court does not impose a judgment on them after a trial. The parties are also better able to maintain (or establish) a civil relationship if they are not involved in protracted litigation with all of the positioning and leverage that a contested divorce may invoke. Annulment is the process of nullifying of a marriage where the court declares that the marriage never took place. New York can be accomplished quickly if the two spouses can agree on distribution of property, anyone other than you who is a resident of New York State and is over 18 years old can serve your spouse. What follows is a list of a few of the requirements or grounds for annulment which must be presented to the courts to terminate a marriage in this way. Grounds for annulment typically involve one party's lack of capacity for marriage or some type of fraud. One ground for annulment is if one party had another living husband or wife at the time of marriage. This is valid even if the spouse knew about the other spouse prior to marriage. You will also need to have several forms notarized. A notary public will charge between $5.00 and $10.00 to notarize a document. Most of the time when a hearing is required, there are many issues beyond simply ending the marriage that you have to think about. These tests typically cost $125.00 for drug screens and $500.00 for DNA tests. In order to annul a marriage, the person seeking the legal action must have sufficient grounds for annulment. Also, abandonment, or your spouse has been committed to a mental institution with little or no hope of recovery. This is done to have a neutral opinion on the children's best interests. The typical fee for the Ad Litem attorney is around $500.00. You are expected to pay this fee and any other court ordered expenses promptly to avoid the possibility of putting your case in jeopardy. The court may not allow you to wait until you get paid. Some judges may want to test to see if you have a support group with enough resources to act on behalf of the children in an emergency type situation. This will be the case even if you are able to get the judge to agree to an "inability to pay affidavit." This affidavit is only for paying the court cost for filing your petition and not the judges special orders. For example, cruelty, most often when children are involved in the divorce, cruelty must rise to the level of domestic violence to meet the standard. Questionnaire. Our trained team of legal assistants will review your forms for completeness, include detailed filing instructions and are available immediately after purchase. Take two (2) copies of them to the county courthouse in which you or the other person resides. The information on this web site is in no way intended to be legal advice.
