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Amutual divorce is an act of formally ending a marriage between two people when they have both reached a consensual agreement to dissolve their union. A joint petition is filed in the court by both the husband and the wife, who not only agree that a divorce should happen but also agree on the terms of the divorce.
Can I Use Summary Dissolution Forms To File For Divorce
A summary dissolution is a simple divorce. The forms and instructions are free and are available at county courthouses. To use the summary dissolution forms, you must meet all of the following requirements:
1) Residency – You or your spouse are a resident of Oregon and one of you has been living here for the last six months
2) Length of Marriage – You have not been married for more than ten years
3) Children – You have no minor children , born to or adopted by you and your spouse, either before or during the marriage. The wife is not pregnant now
4) Real Property – Neither you nor your spouse owns any real property anywhere
5) Personal Property – The combined net value of the personal property owned by you and your spouse is not more than $30,000
6) Debts – The combined unpaid debts of you and your spouse during your marriage are not more than $15,000
7) Spousal Support – Neither spouse is asking for spousal support
8) Temporary Orders – Neither spouse is asking for any temporary orders and
9) Other Divorce Actions – You are not aware of any other divorce or annulment proceedings involving this marriage filed in any court and not yet decided.
If you don’t meet all of the requirements for summary dissolution, you will have to use other forms available through the court or the website noted above, or contact an attorney.
Close All Joint Credit Accounts
Before you separate, if possible, it’s best to pay off and close all joint credit accounts. Closing them before divorce proceedings will keep both you and your spouse from using the account and running up charges that you may later be held responsible for.
If you cant pay accounts in full you can negotiate with a creditor to pay less than what is owed on an account. If you’re able to do this, be sure to get a letter from the creditor that the account has been paid in full and a written promise that they will not file anything derogatory about the account to the credit reporting agencies.
If you are not able to pay off the balances owed or come to a settlement agreement, you should have the accounts frozen. This will keep you from being able to use the account but it will protect you in the long run. Once the divorce is final, the balance owed on the account can be transferred to the party the court holds responsible for the debt. If the responsible party does not pay the debt then you dont have to worry about it affecting your credit score.
You’ll also want to contact and alert creditors to the fact that you are going through a divorce. If there is a change of address, make sure they know it so that you will continue to receive bills from all joint accounts.
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Getting A Copy Of Your Divorce Decree
To get a copy of your divorce decree, contact the court that handled the divorce case. Use the to find contact information.
The court provides copies of its records for a . There are situations where you may need the court to provide a certified or exemplified copy of a record. There are additional fees for these special copies.
Certified Copy
A certified copy of a court record is dated, signed, and stamped by the Clerk of Court certifying that the copy is a true copy of the original court record.
Exemplified Copy
An exemplified court record is an authenticated copy of a certified copy. To authenticate a copy, the judge certifies that the court is a court of record and that the clerk’s signature appearing on the certification is original. The Clerk of Court then certifies that the judge is a judge and has control over the court records. The Clerk of Court also states that the judge’s signature is genuine. An exemplified record may be required in order to record a judgment or decree in another state.
Apostille
Some foreign countries will require that a document be authenticated by Apostille. In Utah, the Lieutenant Governor is responsible for providing this kind of authentication by affixing the seal of the State of Utah to the document. The Apostille Request Form is available on the Lt. Governor’s website.
Grounds For An Indiana Divorce

For divorce in Indiana, you need to meet the residency requirements and if the marriage is maintained but the conditions are intolerable for continued cohabitation in the case of legal separation or the marriage is broken irretrievably and there is no chance of reconciliation, then you can get a divorce.
In the case of fault-based divorce, there are just 3 grounds provided by Indiana:
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Contested New York Divorce
In a contested divorce both spouses do not have an agreement on some or all the issues of the divorce. So, in this case, there will be a trial, where the judge will hear the testimony of the witnesses and decide on the various issues. Contested divorces usually take a long time and you need to make repeated appearances in the court and it is also expensive.
Use Divorcecom For Support
We offer access to services like on-demand mediation that are cost-effective and that will save you time as well. Well start bysetting up a conversation with you and your spouse to get to the bottom of your issues. Then our skilled team will help facilitate the mediation process.
If you find that divorce mediation isnt right for you, we can connect you with one of the experienced attorneys in our network, and they can help you navigate your disputes. Even better the initial consultation is free.
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Four: First Motion Is Passed
The petitioners are given 6 months to decide if they would still like to get divorced. They can file for the second motion anytime after 6 months and before 18 months of filing the case. According to the Supreme Court, any citizen has the freedom to waive any ability to forfeit the effect of a rule or regulation designed only for the interest and welfare of the citizen in his personal position, which may be dealt with without compromising on any public freedom or social good.
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Serving Your Spouse In Ny
The state of New York requires that the defendant must be informed about the divorce in person and so, the Summons and Complaint or Summons with Notice must be delivered personally to the defendant. If you are unable to locate your spouse or dont know where he/she is, then you can check with the clerks office at the supreme court for information about the alternative ways of serving your spouse.
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The plaintiff has a period of 120 days to serve the defendant from the day the Summons and Complaint or Summons with Notice was filed with the clerk at the county courthouse.
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The plaintiff cannot serve the papers to the defendant and must ask any person over 18 years to serve the papers.
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The person serving the defendant should complete the Affidavit of Service, which is proof that the papers were served to the defendant properly.
Notice To Attend Case Manager Conference
You will also receive a notice to attend a case manager conference. This is a meeting with your spouse and a case manager at the courthouse. If the Office of Child Support is a party to the case, a representative from OCS will also attend the conference on behalf of the State of Vermont regarding child support only. This conference is usually held four to eight weeks after the divorce is filed. Use the time before that to fill out your financial forms and gather the financial records that you are required to bring to the conference. You must bring copies of all of these documents for the court, the other party, and OCS if they are a party. Always keep a copy for yourself. If you have children, you should also consider what parenting plan is best for your children.
Usually, the first court event is a case manager conference. The judge wont be there. A case manager will run the conference with you and your spouse. The purpose is to figure out what you two can agree to, and what issues you will be asking the judge or magistrate to decide. The case manager will help you.
If you have children, you will talk about these things:
- Parental rights and responsibilities
- Parentchild contact
- Health insurance
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Only Go To Trial If Necessary

Taking a divorce case to trial will be more costly in the long run since you and your spouse must hire your divorce attorneys and go through a lengthy litigation process. The longer it takes to resolve in court, the more you pay attorney fees.
This could be especially difficult if you have minor children or are in a bind due to no longer having the financial support of your spouse. Not to mention, in a court of law, the judge has the final say. So if you dont agree with their ruling, youll have to file an appeal, but there will be a waiting period. In the meantime, you would have to adhere to the terms of the divorce judgment.
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New York Property Division
In a New York divorce, the marital property is usually divided equitably, i.e. the property and debts that were acquired during your marriage are divided on what is considered fair and not necessarily on an equal basis. Your income, home and personal possessions are all considered as your property.
While dividing the property, the court will consider your spouses and your financial circumstances in the future, tax circumstances of both spouses, value of the assets or any business interest and the need for the custodial parent to live in the family home. The court may also divide the separate property of both spouses if it believes that this is fair, i.e. the court can allocate the property brought into the marriage by one of the spouses to the other spouse at the time of divorce.
How To Start A Divorce
There are at least initial three forms to complete when filing for a divorce including the:
- Family court cover sheet. This lists the basic information about you and your spouse, including any children that you have. The person who files the form is the plaintiff or petitioner, while the other spouse becomes the defendant or respondent.
- Complaint for divorce. This may also be called a Petition for Divorce and tells the judge what you want from the divorce, including assets, child support, spousal support and custody.
- Summons. This is filed with the court and served with the other documents to your spouse to notify them of the divorce request. They have a limited timeframe to respond to thisusually 21 days, but this may vary from state to state.
The forms are filed with the court clerk, who date stamps them and enters them into the court record.
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What Happens If Mutual Consent Is Obtained By Coercion
The court is responsible for ensuring that the consent was not gained deceptively. If the court cannot decide if the consent was willingly granted, the divorce cannot be considered mutually consensual. If the permission to divorce is gained via coercion or intimidation, the party in question may seek an appeal to have the decision overturned
How To Start A Mutual Consent Divorce Case
The mutual divorce procedure in India can be initiated by filing a petition in a Family Court in either of the 3 following locations:
- The location of the current residence of the husband
- The location of the current residence of the wife
- The location where the two people last lived together as spouses.
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New York Child Support
The child support is calculated on basis of the combined income of both the parents. The child support continues until the child turns 21 years old. The court will consider various factors such as the financial resources of each parent, health needs or any special needs of the child, standard of living that the child is accustomed to before determining the child support. One of the parents may be ordered by the court to pay for the medical, educational and health insurance expenses of the child. If you require any help while enforcing a court order for child support, you can contact the Child Support Enforcement, New York Division.
Starting A New York Divorce
Documents Needed for Filing for Divorce
Some of the documents required for filing a divorce in New York areas below:
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Summons & Complaint or Summons With Notice: This is served on the defendant to verify that he/she has received the divorce documents which have been filed.
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Continuation of Healthcare Coverage Notice
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Notice of Automatic Order: This has a list of all the court orders which restricts both spouses from taking decisions until the divorce is finalized.
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Settlement Agreement : Used to negotiate all the property and child custody details before the trial.
If you are filing for divorce in New York and your divorce is an uncontested one, then you can use the following forms:
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If you do not have children under the age of 21 years and your marriage has ended for a minimum of 6 months, then you can make use of the Diy uncontested Divorce Program to complete your divorce papers.
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If you have children who are under 21 years of age, then you must use the Uncontested Divorce Packet.
Filing Your Forms
Once you have signed the papers and the forms have been notarized, you must file them with the county court clerk along with the court fees. The county clerks office is where all the case files of the particular county are held for the supreme court. Some counties allow you to file your divorce papers electronically over the internet via the Nysce system. You can check the county list to see if you can e-file your papers.
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Can I Change My Answers Later
Yes. If you change your mind, make a mistake or if your spouse has changes,you can return to your account for a full 30 days to make changes.
Once you finish the last question and confirm that you are ready to have yourdocuments created, changes to the completed documents may cause an additional fee to be incurred.
Go To Trial If Necessary

If negotiations fail, the court must step in, which means a divorce trial. Typically, a trial is held before a judge, but it may be held in front of a jury in some cases. In either case, both sides present evidence and call witnesses to support their claims regarding child custody, financial support, property division, and other divorce-related matters.
The court considers all the evidence and testimony and renders a final and binding decision. Keep in mind that divorce trials are expensive, time-consuming, and require a significant amount of preparation. It’s often worth the effort to explore other options for dispute resolution, such as mediation, collaborative divorce, or private arbitration.
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Will I Have To Pay Spousal Support
Spousal support may be granted to either spouse for a limited or indefinite time, based on the following factors, including, but not limited to: the time necessary to acquire sufficient education and training to enable the spouse to find appropriate employment and become self-supporting the duration of the marriage the financial resources of the spouse seeking alimony, including marital property apportioned to such spouse and such spouses ability to meet his or her needs independently and the age and physical and emotional health of the spouses. Support payments may be ordered to be paid through the court. See Iowa Code section 598.21A.
How To File For Divorcesteps To Take
Once you are certain that you meet the residency requirements for your state, you can continue with the steps for filing for divorce. Take a look at the table below for more information:
Steps To Take | |
Fill out your court forms | The court forms you need to complete usually require you to provide information about:
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Make copies of your forms | You will need one copy for yourself and another for your spouse, and the original will go to the court |
File the papers | You need to file the divorce papers in the state court in the county where you or your spouse resides |
Create a divorce settlement agreement | This document is a necessity for uncontested divorce cases. When properly drafted, it covers custody arrangements and ways to divide property and debts. DoNotPay can help you create an airtight divorce settlement agreement! |
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