Because each divorce involves different people and different issues, each divorce case takes its own unique path. Your lawyer is the only person who can predict how long your divorce will take and what issues will cause problems in the process.
There are some general categories, however, into which your divorce may fall. Divorces can be obtained by default, meaning that the other party has failed to participate; they can be uncontested, meaning that the parties have reached agreement on the issues involved; and they can be contested, with disagreements over some or all issues involved.
A default divorce begins in the same way that any other divorce does: a petition for dissolution is filed at the courthouse. This petition is then served, with a summons, on the other spouse. The spouse has 30 days after he or she has been served to take some action in court, whether it be entering his or her appearance or responding to the allegations in the petition.
If the spouse fails to take any action within the 30-day period, he or she can be held in default. Because the person has failed to answer within the time given, the judge can proceed to complete the case without the participation of that spouse. In such cases, both the ground for divorce and all the other issues involved in the divorce are presented to the judge at one hearing. The judge can then make a final judgment even without the presence of the other party.
An uncontested divorce is possible when the husband and wife agree on all issues involved in the divorce. The first step in court in this type of divorce is also filing a petition. In uncontested cases, one spouse will often waive, in writing, the requirement of being served with a summons. The parties usually make their agreement final by preparing a marital settlement agreement and an agreement about parenting issues, if necessary. Only one court hearing is scheduled in such cases. The judge is presented with the agreement of the parties and reviews it to make sure that it is fair, particularly is there are children involved.
Although most divorce cases end up with an agreement, they often begin with at least some disagreement. These cases are referred to as contested cases and begin with a petition for dissolution of marriage and with service of a summons and petition on the other spouse. The other spouse responds to the petition and may file his or her own counterpetition for dissolution of marriage. If a counter petition is filed, the first spouse will need to respond to that counter petition.
In contested cases, there are often issues that must be resolved very quickly, such as who will stay in the house, who will care for the children, and whether either party will make payments to the other party until the divorce is final. It may be necessary to have a hearing on how these issues will be handled until the divorce is final. These contested cases also involve some discovery, which is a process used to find out information in order to prepare for further negotiations at a hearing. In a contested divorce, there will usually be a number of hearings on contested issues.
As you can see, a default or uncontested divorce can move much more quickly than a contested divorce. The longer your divorce case lasts, the greater your frustrations and the higher your attorney fees. These are important considerations in reviewing a reasonable offer of settlement in a divorce case. There is some good news there is only one grounds for divorce now i.e. irreconcilable differences, which makes that issue much simpler.