Are you considering divorce? If you are contemplating ending your marriage, you’re dealing with a lot. Your life is changing, and you want to find a way through the divorce without losing your mind or all of your things in the process. You might not realize it, but there are many different kinds of divorce, and not all of them are right for every situation. Knowing what type of divorce will best fit your situation can help make a hard time a little bit easier to handle.
Uncontested
An uncontested divorce Tampa is one where you and your spouse settle the terms of your divorce yourselves, and then your lawyer includes them in your separation agreement. This method is the path of least resistance in terms of a divorce. Items that you will negotiate together are custody and parenting time, division of property, alimony and child support.
Once you have a completed separation agreement, you can file for divorce. Because these are quickly finished and require less time for the courts, they are often fast-tracked. In some states, you might even be able to avoid going to court and can sign an affidavit with the clerk to finalize the divorce.
Contested
A contested divorce is the exact opposite of an uncontested one. It is where you and your spouse cannot agree on one or more issues. Because you can’t come to an agreement, it will be left to the judge to decide the issue. This method is a more stressful and expensive one because you will repeatedly meet with lawyers and attend court hearings to decide interim matters like alimony or child support.
Default
If you’ve filed for divorce and your spouse never responds, you could find that you are granted a default divorce. A judge will look into your filings and ensure that you’ve filed everything correctly and make their decision accordingly. It should be noted that most states have a period of time where the spouse that defaulted can ask the court to overturn the judgment. This is only done if the defaulted party can show an adequate reason for not responding to the divorce petition in time.
Collaborative
In a collaborative divorce, each spouse hires their own attorney, who is specifically trained in collaborative divorce. The spouses agree to supply all information necessary for a fair negotiation, and the attorneys work together to settle the divorce. One caveat to collaborative divorce is that upon hiring your attorneys, you and your spouse must both agree that if you can’t settle your divorce, that your lawyers will withdraw from the case, and you will both be required to find different attorneys to take the case to court.