See How Easily You Can Start Your Uncontested Divorce
1.) The Road to an Uncontested Divorce
You’ll take a number of steps to obtain an uncontested divorce. First, you and your spouse must agree on certain specific issues, including division of your assets, division of your liabilities or debts, custody of your children if you have any, child support, and spousal maintenance. Your agreement regarding each of these issues must be reduced to writing in a document called either an opting agreement or a separation agreement. Once that agreement is completed and signed, the papers required to obtain an actual divorce are prepared. You will each sign some of those papers, and they will be submitted to the court for review. The court will ask for any required corrections. Once your documents are approved, the court will sign the judgment of divorce, and it will be filed with the county clerk’s office.
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Summary:
- The uncontested divorce process follows a series of steps, the first of which is that both spouses must agree on division of assets and liabilities, custody of any children, child support, and spousal maintenance.
- Agreement on each of these issues must be reduced to writing in a document called an opting agreement or a separation agreement.
- Once that agreement is signed, the papers required to obtain an actual divorce are prepared.
- Each party signs some of those papers, and they are submitted to the court for review.
- The court will ask for any required corrections and, once the documents are approved, the court signs the judgment of divorce, and it is filed with the county clerk’s office.
2.) Timeline of an Uncontested Divorce
The first part of the process is preparation of a written agreement. Once our client has given us an outline of the agreement, it generally takes five to ten business days to prepare a draft. After that, our client and their spouse review and finalize all of the issues in that agreement. Whatever time they need is added onto the five to ten business days required to draft the agreement.
Once the agreement is signed, our office takes another five to ten business days to prepare all of the paperwork the court requires and forward copies to our client and their spouse for review. We need to know they’ve agreed upon all the paperwork and each has signed their appropriate documents. The time the parties take to accomplish this is added onto the five to ten days our office needs to complete that paperwork.
Submitting your completed paperwork to the court is the final step. Once submitted, the paperwork is out of our control, and we generally expect the judge to require eight to twelve weeks to sign the judgment of divorce. In some counties, that timeframe can be significantly longer, while in others it can be a little bit shorter. It always depends upon the assigned judge and how much other paperwork is sitting on the judge’s desk when our paperwork is submitted.
Summary:
- How long it will take to obtain an uncontested divorce depends on several factors.
- The first step is drafting a written agreement based on an outline provided by the client, which takes five to ten business days to prepare.
- Next, the spouses review and finalize all issues addressed in that agreement, with the time added onto the days required to draft the agreement.
- Once the agreement is signed, five to ten business days are required for preparation of the required paperwork, which is forwarded to the spouses for review to ensure their agreement and signatures on appropriate documents. The time the parties take to accomplish this is added to the days our office needs to complete that paperwork.
- Submitting completed paperwork to the court is the final step and, once submitted, the paperwork is out of our control. The judgment of divorce will be signed within eight to twelve weeks, depending upon the assigned judge and how much other paperwork is awaiting the judge’s attention.
3.) Keeping Things Inexpensive
As an owner of a law firm and an experienced New York Divorce Lawyer, our office handles uncontested divorces using a variety of formats. For parties who already have an agreement and know how they’re going to resolve every issue, we have our streamlined process. This flat-fee process covers our handling of all the paperwork necessary to go from final agreement to judgment of divorce. If the parties have not yet reached agreement on all of the issues, but want to work on an agreement because they want an uncontested divorce, we’ll work with the process. We’ll negotiate with our client and the other spouse’s attorney. We’ll refer them to mediation. Essentially, we’ll do whatever is necessary to achieve the parties’ goal – a final drafted agreement acceptable to both parties. Then, we’ll pursue an uncontested divorce that eliminates any need for court house appearances.
Summary:
- Our office offers a variety of formats for uncontested divorces.
- Parties who have an agreement and know how they’re going to resolve every issue use our streamlined, flat-fee process which covers handling of all paperwork to go from final agreement to judgment of divorce.
- We work through the process for parties who have not yet reached agreement on all issues, but want to work toward an uncontested divorce by negotiating with our client and the other spouse’s attorney.
- We may refer them to mediation and, essentially, do whatever is necessary to finalize an agreement acceptable to both parties.
- Once an agreement is reached, we can pursue an uncontested divorce and eliminate any need for court appearances.
If you are ready to start your new life by initiating the divorce process, let one of our experienced Divorce Lawyers work for you.
This educational legal blog was brought to you by Jean Mahserjian, an experienced New York Divorce Attorney located in Saratoga County. Our law office has been helping residents with uncontested divorce options for over 25 years.
