Divorce Yourself!


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The Procedure

  1. Type up the Original Petition for Divorce, The Agreement of Conservatorship and Support (if children are involved), Marital-Property Agreement, and Statement on ADR. All of these documents, except the Original Petition of Divorce, become exhibits of the Original Petition of Divorce.
  2. Go to your local courthouse and file the Original Petition of Divorce and pay your fee for filing the petition. This becomes Day 1 of your waiting period.
  3. Anytime during the 2nd or 3rd week of your wait, you should file your Waiver of Service. This means that your spouse will not be served the order to appear before the court for your final hearing. Since you both are agreeing on everything there is no need to have papers served to the spouse. That just adds humiliation and makes a rocky situation worse.
  4. If you have children from this marriage, you both have to take a class where they will tell you how to act around your children, and make sure your children know that you are not divorcing because of them. You will need to have your certificate of completion before you go for your Final Decree hearing. The class was something like $25 per person, and was given by the YMCA if I recall correctly. More information will available from the court house.
  5. After the 60 days are over, you go to the courthouse where you filed, and let them know that you want to have your court date today and pay the rest of the fees. They will take your Final Decree and look over it, pencil in any changes they deem necessary – like adding a signature line for the judge or something. They will let you know what court room to appear in. You appear before the judge, the judge asks you if you both agree on everything, and ask about your child support (if any). More than likely the judge will figure out the child support payment himself. Generally, its 20% of your gross income. Afterwards, a court clerk will tell you when and where you can pick up your signed decree. If they don’t be sure to ask them.
  6. You will have to wait a week or two depending on the local standard operating procedures to get your copy of the decree back. Once you do, take it back down to the place where you first filed, and file the decree, as well as pay for two more certified copies. They will file it and give you two copies. One for you and one for your now ex.

That is all there is to it. You’ve spent around $200 ($225 if you paid for my copies) and are divorced. You paid even less if no children were involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2005 Walter R. Basil. All rights reserved.