It is better for the parties to agree on all key issues and file documents for an uncontested divorce.

Once having arrived in America in search of happiness, many met here their fate or the one whom they temporarily considered as such. Unfortunately, it often happens that in a civilized world, people continue to live in a registered marriage as neighbors, fearing to take the initiative to formally terminate relations that have long been effectively terminated. Many spouses continue to live under the same roof, sharing life without love, raising their own children in this very dislike, who then repeat their fate.

Quite rarely, such cases go through all stages of the trial. Usually, following the advice of prudent lawyers, the parties prefer to come to an agreement, and the case, not even beginning to be heard, ends with a settlement, the essential provisions of which are incorporated into the final decision of the court for divorce (Final Decree of Divorce).

Particularly principled plaintiffs and defendants, without any amicable agreements, go to the end, and prefer to stop only when the court instead decided what will be better. In addition, at this belated stage, everything that is not needed by anyone, often the dirty details of the spouses' private family life, has already been laid out. Since each family has something to spread, such clients become favorites of lawyers, since the divorce proceedings are mainly paid hourly.

It would seem, but what if one side opposes divorce, seeking to save the relationship? Perhaps this is true, but if a divorce suit is already pending before the court, it means that the other party has already made a decision. Even after allowing the parties some time for reconciliation, the court, sooner or later, will decide on a divorce, because marriage is an alliance that both parties must want at the same time.

It is for the above reason that lawyers advise their clients to agree as early as possible, preferably before filing documents for divorce. Accordingly, at a stage when the parties already have an understanding that the relationship, unfortunately, has no future, it is better for them to agree on all key issues for a divorce and submit documents for an uncontested divorce.

For example, in Virginia, parties who have been living apart for more than six months without having been in actual fact of marital relations, may have an Uncontested Divorce if they have a written agreement (Separation and Property Settlement Agreement) and also have no children in common. . But in neighboring Maryland, the same period is one year.

If the parties have children or it is impossible to reach an agreement for any reason, they are endowed with the same right, but the period of separation (absence of physical relations) should be more than a year in Virginia.

In this case, the spouse initiating the divorce must live in Virginia for the last six months before filing a lawsuit.

Such a procedure is less time-consuming than the contested divorce, which sooner or later, but, nevertheless, takes place. At the same time, the lawyer's fee will be calculated in completely different numbers, and the parties, instead of maintaining normal human relations, will hate each other even more, citing for years what has been said about each of them in court.

What could be the reason for such an inability to agree with someone with whom he had shared a shelter for a long time, raised common children and slept in the same bed? Of course, this is money, in one form or another (child support, spousal maintenance, division of property). It is not unfortunate, but much less often, “custody of children” becomes the “bone of contention”.

If you want to see a list of reasons why a divorce becomes disputed, I propose to turn to the essential conditions of a typical Separation and Property Settlement Agreement, which was already mentioned above.

In addition to custody and child support, such conditions are the determination of the party that will pay the fees of lawyers accompanying the divorce, state fees (court fees).

In the said agreement, it is also necessary to allocate movable and immovable property, rights, and pension payments. It is also worth setting a schedule for visits to the child (s), determining the amount of spousal support, and distributing debts.

Many people prefer to determine the beneficiary for insurance payments, as well as indicate the legal fate of the property in the event of the death of each spouse.

The reason is very simple: a divorce means only a divorce, which can exist separately from the division of property, determining the place of residence of children and alimony. Despite the absence of a procedural ban on combining all of the above in one lawsuit, the judges do not like this very much and prefer to divide such cumbersome proceedings into several single-subject ones, even if the plaintiff’s lawyer included all this in one lawsuit.

Trying to get a divorce as soon as possible, the couple go to a small legal trick: one of them files a lawsuit, and the second allegedly objects to it. For several sessions, the court still makes a decision on divorce, which no one disputes, as a result of which it will soon enter into legal force.

Further, each of the spouses builds his personal life, slowly dividing, at the same time, property in court. Issues related to children are also dealt with in a separate process, since the Board of Trustees, whose participation is mandatory in such matters, is completely uninteresting to listen to how the property of the spouses is divided.

Without underestimating the role of the Separation and Property Settlement Agreement in a divorce, both disputed and uncontested, it is also necessary to correctly draw up the main document with which any trial begins - a statement of claim. It must provide data on the parties and their place of residence. So, the parties to the divorce proceedings are the spouse - the plaintiff (plaintiff) and the defendant (respondent).

In addition, it is necessary to refer to the date and place of marriage, as well as indicate the grounds for divorce. Legislation of most states requires grounds for divorce, whether it is a guilty act of one of the spouses (treason, crime) or, for example, lack of physical proximity, separation, etc. Moreover, the most popular tools to refute these grounds are connivance and insanity. Accordingly, the party to whom the lawsuit is filed should better respond in writing to it, declaring its position.

In the United States, a statement of claim is customary to state in paragraphs, which significantly improves the efficiency of work on the case. Agree, it is much easier to avoid lyrics by numbering specific facts. In turn, the defendant, who needs to respond to each statement, in the same order, keeping the numbering, agrees with a specific fact or denies it. This structure of the claim allows the court to determine the scope of the subject of evidence in a particular case, which comes down only to facts not recognized by the other party. Of course, in the case of an uncontested divorce, this is irrelevant, since it is assumed that the defendant agrees with each fact, without exception, which he is obliged to indicate, while still maintaining the structure of the numbered list.

As regards the timelines for considering a divorce case, an uncontested divorce takes basically two to three months, while a disputed divorce can take about eighteen months.

Many women are also concerned about the issue of changing their surname after the dissolution of an American marriage. Of course, you are not obliged to do this, but you have the right. Moreover, even if it wasn’t you who filed the lawsuit, no matter what kind of divorce (disputed or uncontested) you are talking about, your lawyer or you personally can petition the court to restore your maiden name or surname that you had in your previous marriage.

In order to summarize our excursion into this sometimes painful topic, which customers, unfortunately, encounter too often, we emphasize that divorce is only a legal shell of what has already happened between the parties. It is never the reason that something went wrong, being an ordinary consequence.

Each of us, getting married, wants it to be forever. But if fate has decreed that your American dream has collapsed for a while, this is not a reason to avoid the correct execution of your decisions. And then, perhaps, a divorce will not be an abyss, but a springboard from which you will leap into a new life.