Everything You Need to Know About the Legalities of Divorce

divorce rates are up tremendously nowadays

For many people, the day they get married is one of the happiest of their lives. This makes having to get a divorce all the more tragic and nerve-racking. Unfortunately, divorce rates are up tremendously nowadays, and it’s not only because it’s easier to get one now.

People are becoming more and more disillusioned with the concept of marriage and with romantic love in general.

But it’s also easier to get out of a bad marriage, which is a major advantage. Getting divorced is hard enough without having to worry about all those complicated divorce legalities.

And knowing the legalities is just the beginning, because then you will need to have the amendments explained to you, but for the time being let’s focus on finding out all that there is to know about the legalities of divorce.

Acceptable Divorce Grounds

As previously mentioned, it was way harder to file for a divorce back in the day because you needed to have really strong reasons for it. Fortunately, nowadays a total of 50 American states have a law that legitimizes no-fault divorces.

This is good news because it means that one spouse needn’t wait for the other to get violent or catch them on the wrong foot somehow (adultery or otherwise). If you’re not feeling your marriage anymore, you’re free to file for a divorce without having a too serious reason for it.

How to File a Petition

If you plan on getting divorced, regardless of the fact that the desire to do so is mutual or not, you will need to file a divorce petition under the title of either “Complaint for the Dissolution of Marriage” or “Letter of Complaint”. The filing fee for this petition is around 200 to 300 dollars depending on where you live and its contents also vary from state to state or region to region.

So before trying to file the initial divorce petition, make sure you are up to date with the specific laws and regulations in your general area. Even though this petition is expensive, you can get a waiver from the state if you can legally prove that you don’t have the necessary funds to pay the fee.

After the petition is filed, you need to notify your spouse of it. Naturally, this will be easier if the divorce is mutual and things can get really complicated if the two of you ended the marriage on bad terms. However, it is a necessary step in the legal process, so you need to find a way to do it amiably. It’s easier for them to just sign a waiver, but they can also be served as a last resort.

Main Issues in a Divorce

There are four primary issues that need to be dealt with during a divorce, and they go as follows:

• Assets
• Debt
• Personal property
• Child custody

There are two main ways to go about this. If you and your spouse ended on amiable terms and the divorce is mutual and supported by both of you, you can settle peacefully out of court and then simply present your decision in front of the court.

However, if the marriage came to an abrupt and rocky halt, things will have to be settled in court. Assets, debt and property are usually split in half in court unless otherwise stated by one party or the other or if there are extenuating circumstances present.

However, child custody is where the real battle is at, so if you are in the process of deciding who gets full and who gets partial custody of your child or children, prepare for a tough battle.

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