How to File for Divorce in Gilbert Arizona

Divorce is a legal process that ends a marriage. In Gilbert Arizona, the legal term for divorce is “marriage dissolution.” During the divorce process, you will have to make decisions about child custody, visitation, child support, alimony (sometimes called spousal support or maintenance), property and debt division, and attorney’s fees and costs. You can either make an agreement with your spouse about these issues (usually with the help of a lawyer) or you can have the court decide for you in a trial.

Divorce Proceedings in Arizona

Here are the steps and considerations you’ll have to make when getting a divorce in Gilbert Arizona. When you work with a lawyer, your lawyer will create and file most of the paperwork for you. But your lawyer will need your input about what to include in the documents.

1. The Petition for a Dissolution of Marriage

The divorce begins with the Petition to the court. This document notifies the court and your spouse, when they are served, that you want the court to terminate your marriage. It also lists what you are asking for as a result of the dissolution of marriage, such as child custody, child visitation, child support, spousal maintenance (alimony), property division, attorney’s fees, and costs.

2. The Dissolution of Marriage Request Response

After a Petition is served, the other spouse (the Respondent) is entitled to file opposing papers. In Arizona, if you are served with a Petition, you must file your opposing papers as the Respondent within twenty days if you are in state or thirty days if you live out of state, or you will lose your right to present your side of the case to the court, and the court might give your spouse everything asked for in the Petition. When the court grants dissolution of marriage after hearing from only one spouse, it’s called a default divorce.

3. Temporary orders for the Divorce

Temporary orders also called pendente lite orders, set the rules while the case is pending. Either spouse can ask the court to make temporary orders stating, for example, who stays in the house, who is responsible for the children, who pays which bills, and restraining inappropriate conduct. It is in both spouses’ best interest to agree upon reasonable arrangements while the case is pending rather than incur additional legal fees and add to bad feelings by having to go to court for temporary orders. In Arizona, when children are involved, the court will automatically create temporary orders for child support when a divorce proceeding is filed or the other spouse is served. However, this process can take several months to be completed. To have this issue settled more quickly, the spouses can make a temporary order themselves and file it with the court.

4. The Discovery Phase

Both spouses are entitled to information from the other regarding the dissolution of marriage. The legal procedures for obtaining that information are called discovery. Discovery may be a simple, speedy process or one consuming a great deal of time, energy, and money. Often times the depth of discovery depends upon the size and value of the estate and the length of the marriage.

There are several different discovery procedures, sometimes referred to as discovery devices. Your attorney will usually submit and receive information on your behalf during discovery, but he or she will need your input along the way.

• Interrogatories. You can use an interrogatory to send a list of questions to your spouse. Your spouse must respond with formal written answers.
• Request for production. You can use a request for production to ask your spouse for specific documents.
• Deposition. You can use a deposition — sometimes called an examination before trial – to ask or spouse or other people questions in person and under oath. This usually takes place in a lawyer’s office. while a court reporter takes down what is said and then prepares a transcript. Lawyers ask the questions, not the spouses, and if your deposition is to be taken, you will have advance notice and you will have time to prepare with your lawyer.

Your lawyers may also be able to conduct discovery informally, without the formal procedures described above. Informal discovery is almost always more efficient and therefore less expensive than formal discovery.

5. Divorce Settlement Negotiation

Most lawyers and judges agree that it is better to resolve a case by agreement than to have a trial in which a judge decides the outcome. When spouses craft their own divorce agreement, it’s called a negotiated settlement. Negotiated settlements provide much more privacy and control than a trial. Also, ex-spouses are more likely to adhere to their own agreements, rather than orders imposed on them by a judge. Voluntary compliance is important because enforcement procedures available from the court are usually expensive and sometimes inadequate. For these reasons, negotiating a settlement is often to both parties’ advantage.

In Arizona, mediation may be ordered by the judge in an attempt to settle many if not all of the issues pertaining to the dissolution of marriage.

Although your lawyer may recommend that you accept or reject a particular settlement proposal, the decision to settle or not to settle is yours. Your lawyer cannot and will not make that decision for you.

If a case is settled by agreement early on in the process you may never see the inside of the courthouse. However, you and your lawyer will still have to follow additional legal procedures in order to turn your agreement into a judgment and end your marriage.

6. If the Divorce Goes to Trial

If you and your spouse cannot settle your case, it will go to trial. At trial, you each tell your story to the judge. It is told through your testimony, the testimony of other witnesses, and documents called exhibits.

The trial is likely to be expensive and unpleasant. However, it can be the only alternative to never-ending unreasonable settlement demands. Still, trials are risky. No lawyer can predict the outcome of a trial because every case is different. In a trial, a judge – who is a stranger who may have a viewpoint, a temperament, and values very different from yours — tells you and your spouse how to reorder your lives, divides your income and assets, and dictates when each of you may see your children.

Sometimes, a trial does not end the case. If either spouse is unhappy with the outcome of the trial, he or she may appeal the decision in a higher court. An appeal adds more time and expense to the divorce process and is hard to win.

Find Out More About the Divorce Procedure in Gilbert Arizona

Get more legal information about Arizona Divorce and Family Law by contacting The Harding Firm. We will give you a free consultation for your specific situation. Let us help you navigate through this process. We also specialize in divorce mediation, parent coordination, child custody, and collaborative law. We can guide you through the divorce process from beginning to end.