Uncontested Divorce
What most people mean when they use the term "uncontested divorce" is that the parties have agreed on all of the issues and the divorce proceedings themselves are basically a formality to allow the state (through the court) to ratify and give legal force to those agreements.
Many people who expect their divorces to be "uncontested" attempt to proceed without an attorney, thinking that because there's nothing to argue about, they don't need representation. Unfortunately, the fact that a divorce is uncontested and the parties have reached an agreement generally doesn't relax any of the legal requirements associated with filing a divorce petition, achieving service of process, providing necessary documentation to the court, and creating pleadings and documents that follow prescribed legal standards.
An uncontested divorce begins like any other divorce case: one party files a divorce petition and arranges for service of process on the other party.
However, if the parties are able to agree on all of the aspects of the divorce: property settlement, division of debts, allocation of retirement accounts, custody of children, visitation rights and schedules, payment of child support, and any other issue that may come into play in a particular divorce case, there may be no need for a hearing. Instead, the parties may submit an agreement and agreed order and, if the court accepts the agreement, the order may be entered and the divorce finalized without a hearing.
The process may differ slightly from state to state and even from court to court. For instance, different states have different divorce waiting periods, so if all of the issues are agreed, a couple may have to wait weeks or months before finalizing their divorce. Some judges may require both spouses to appear in court and confirm that they've agreed to the terms in the agreement, and to make sure that they understand the agreement and have freely agreed.
Typically, an uncontested divorce will follow these steps:
- Preparation and filing of divorce petition
- Service of process
- Passage of waiting period (where applicable)
- Preparation and filing of agreement and proposed agreed order
- Hearing to confirm agreement (where required)
- Entry of divorce decree
One important point to note is that a divorce does not become final until the order is signed by the judge. Often, there is a delay between the time an agreement and agreed order are submitted to the judge and the time the order is signed and entered. A couple is not divorced until the order is signed and entered. This is especially important to people planning to remarry after divorce, since different states have different waiting periods to legally marry after a divorce.
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A local divorce attorney can tell you whether there is a waiting period in your state, whether a court appearance is required to confirm an agreement, and can help ensure that you have considered and addressed all possible issues in your divorce agreement.