Filing a petition for dissolution of marriage (divorce) simply opens a file at the courthouse and gives you a file number to use in the future. Nothing else will ever happen if no one files anything further. In fact in many counties, the court is obligated to close the case if no one files anything else within a 3-5-year period.
My earlier blog (“Making Sense of Those Legal Forms” posted February 1, 2021) discussed the forms that are needed to begin the process for divorce. This article is written to explain the forms that must be submitted to the court in order to complete the process of obtaining your divorce.
Imagine a child learning that their parents are divorcing in a way that is filled with empathy and hope for the future. No matter how hard the change in lifestyle will be for your children, you as their parents hold the key to their adjustment during and after divorce.
In summary as addressed above, most individuals select “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their divorce in California because it is the easiest to prove and does not require expert testimony about the other person’s mental capacity.
If you both enter into a Collaborative Divorce process in good faith, don’t rush out to file for divorce or panic if you are on either side of the “ten year” marriage. Trust that you and your spouse can create an appropriate agreement that doesn’t depend on a knee-jerk reliance on “rules” that may or may not be true.
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