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Questions & Answers
What is a divorce or dissolution of marriage?
A dissolution of marriage is the termination of the marital relationship between a husband and wife. A decree of dissolution completely terminates the marital status of both parties. A legal separation is a court determination of the rights and responsibilities of a husband and wife arising out of the marital relationship. A decree of legal separation does not terminate the marital status of the parties. Please see specific state for details and/or differences.
Are divorce laws the same in all states?
Divorce laws are not the same in all states. There are some similarities among state laws, but there are also great differences. Also, all states have their own Rules of Civil Procedure which set forth time limits, forms, and state practices which must be closely followed. Sometimes, individual counties within the states have their own rules, forms, and local practices. The information provided in these answers is intended to be generally informative to the public, but this is not legal advic...
What are the grounds for divorce?
The laws of each state specify the grounds - the legal reasons - for which a divorce can be granted. Until 20 or 30 years ago, the only legal reason for obtaining a divorce was that the other spouse was guilty of some variety of marital misconduct and was at fault for the marriage not working. Many states have retained their fault-type grounds for obtaining a divorce, but all states now allow divorces to be granted regardless of who is at fault. Some states have only no-fault grounds. No-faul...
What is annulment of a marriage?
Annulment is a legal procedure that dissolves a marriage as if it had never happened. A marriage can be annulled for various reasons depending upon particular circumstances and state laws. However, a marriage may generally be annulled in the following situations: 1) where the marriage between the parties is prohibited by law; 2) where either party was impotent at the time of marriage; or 3) where either party had a husband or a wife living at the time of the marriage, unless they cohabited ...
Is there a residency requirement?
Please see specific state for details and/or differences.
Paternity is the legal status of being a father. A lawsuit or court motion which is filed to have a man declared the father of a child is called a paternity action. This can be commenced by either the mother or the father. A father might commence a paternity action to establish his right to visitation or custody of the child. The mother usually initiates a paternity action to establish the father's obligation to pay child support. Paternity actions can be initiated by public officials who ar...
Please see specific state for details and/or differences.
Custody is the legal authority to control a child. The power to make important decisions about a child is generally referred to as "legal" custody. The power to maintain physical, day-to-day control over a child is generally referred to as "physical" custody. The custodial parent is the parent with physical custody of a child. The other parent is the non-custodial parent. Both parts of custody - legal and physical - can be sole or joint. Each state has a statutory standard to be used by the...
Child support is an award in a dissolution, legal separation, annulment, or paternity proceeding for the care, support, and education of any child of a marriage or other parties. Payment of college expenses for a child is generally not assumed to be a part of the obligation to pay child support. Child support is paid until the last minor child no longer fits the statutory definition of "child." Please see specific state for details and/or differences.
When one parent has sole physical custody of the child, the other parent is awarded visitation rights. This means the other parent has the right to see the child on a regularly scheduled basis. Please see specific state for details and/or differences.
What is alimony and how is it determined?
Alimony or spousal maintenance is money paid by one spouse for the support and maintenance of the other spouse. When a party starts a divorce proceeding, he or she may need the immediate intervention of the court to establish temporary alimony as a part of other types of temporary relief. The amount of temporary alimony is based upon the financial circumstances existing at that time, as presented to the court in written Affidavits and Financial Statements. Some states or counties have written...
What if a spouse is in the military service?
A divorce case is a type of civil court case. By federal law, a person on active military duty may not be subjected to any civil court action unless he consents to the power of the court to hear the case. In order to commence a divorce action against a person on active military duty, it is wise to also serve the divorce papers on the person's commanding officer. Then the commanding officer will make sure the person in the military receives the papers and reviews them with a military attorney....
After a divorce action has been commenced, the spouses may need the intervention of the Court to decide immediate, short-term issues such as occupancy of the house, custody of children, payment of money for child support and spousal maintenance, etc. The Court decides these immediate issues at a court hearing known as a temporary hearing or preliminary hearing. The hearing is usually scheduled by one spouse serving and filing a written Motion which specifies the temporary relief being request...
What is a stipulation/settlement agreement?
The parties, on their own or with the help of their attorneys, may be able to agree on some or all of their issues. This agreement becomes the basis for the court's Decree, and the parties, by forming such an agreement, avoid the necessity of having a trial to resolve the issues. Especially the issues of child custody and child support, the court must approve the agreement of the parties and retain the power to make its own orders. All states allow parties to use a written agreement in solvi...
