If you have been served with a divorce petition (also known as a divorce complaint), it means that your spouse has officially started the process of legally ending your marriage. This can be an emotionally taxing time, and you might not know how to best proceed and respond.
Securing the services of a skilled divorce attorney can make the process of responding to a petition much easier for you and your loved ones.
Considering your options
Depending on the circumstances surrounding your financial situation and the state of your relationship with your spouse, there are several things to consider when deciding how you should respond to a divorce complaint.
Upon being served a divorce notice, many individuals make the mistake of simply ignoring it. While this may seem like the easiest option in the short term, it is also the riskiest. Divorce courts interpret a lack of response to be a default, and your former spouse will likely receive all the terms he or she has outlined in the petition. On the other hand, if you have already reached an out-of-court agreement with your spouse, it may be appropriate not to formerly respond to the petition.
If you have worked out a pretrial agreement, you may need to file an uncontested agreement to the terms of divorce outlined in your spouse’s petition. This form basically states that you are accepting everything that has been outlined in the complaint your former spouse has filed.
Again, prior to filing an uncontested agreement, it is highly advisable that you seek legal counsel to make sure all the items you and your spouse previously agreed to are stated clearly in the petition. Only an experienced attorney will know for sure.
Filing a response to a divorce petition
After you have received a petition, you typically will have only 30 days to formally respond to it. If the filing of a divorce complaint came as a surprise to you, this may seem to be a very short amount of time. A legal professional can help you determine how to move forward in a prompt manner, ensuring you do not miss any deadlines that could negatively impact your interests moving forward.
The bottom line is that the worst thing you can do after receiving a petition for divorce is to do nothing at all. In almost all cases, you will want to take some type of action to ensure you don’t lose out during the divorce proceedings.
For more information on the divorce process and to get the advice you need when responding to a divorce complaint, work with a skilled New Brunswick family law attorney at the Law Office of Steven M. Cytryn.
