Florida Divorce Attorney
Are you headed for divorce?
There is nothing pretty about ending a marriage. Even a friendly divorce is stressful and sometimes confusing. Legally, divorce is viewed as the "dissolution of marriage" - the breaking of a legal contract between two people. In order to break this contract you and your spouse must get a judgment of divorce. This means arranging for your property, your children and financial support, if any.
There are only two grounds for a legal divorce:
1) the marriage is irretrievably broken (irreconcilable differences), or
2) one of the parties is mentally incompetent.
Dissolution based on incompetence is rarely used because it is very hard to prove. It cannot be used unless the party alleged to be incompetent has been held by a judge to have been incompetent for at least three years. Usually, a divorce is due to the couple's marriage being irretrievably broken. This means that the couple has irreconcilable differences that cannot be mended. Differences that have caused a complete breakdown of the marriage. If you have reached that point, then you'll need to start the legal process of divorce.
The spouse who starts the divorce proceedings files a petition in court for the dissolution of marriage. This is a simple, standard document. The petition sets out what the facts and issues are and what terms the Petitioner is looking for. The other spouse, the Defendant, can then file a response with his/her own terms. Typically, this response must be filed within 30 days of the divorce petition being served. The response is also a very simple document that is easy to file. The purpose of the response is to get the two parties as close to an amicable agreement as possible. Then, they wait for a judgment to come back with orders for the divorce and the specific terms concerning property, children and financial support.
The law is used to impose a decision only when there is a disagreement between parties that has been brought into court. For example, a judge may review your terms where children are concerned just to make sure the children are reasonably well supported and protected.
You might think that a legal divorce will instantly solve your problems but don't be fooled. A legal divorce is just a piece of paper - a judgment with orders about property, custody and finances. Dealing with the emotional side of divorce is a whole other subject…good luck!
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