Understanding the Divorce Process: An Overview
Hello, I’m attorney Palmer Johnson. I specialize in family law matters with a particular focus on helping mothers navigate the legal proceedings that affect their families. My approach is to listen, understand, and then advocate. In today’s video, I’m going to cover a broad overview of what the process of getting a divorce entails. At a very high level, when you are dissolving your marriage, there’s some specific things that a court is going to decide, and those are the areas that we’re going to focus on in resolving your particular case.
Initiating the Divorce Process
The initial separation of the parties is typically going to involve one party moving out of the marital residence. It could be either party, but in many instances it seems to be the husband or the father that moves out, especially if they’re minor children involved. Then you’re going to, after you come and talk to an engaged attorney, you’re going to actually file the petition, which is the document that kind of starts the entire process. It’s where you ask the court for the things that you want and raise all of the issues that are important to or necessary to resolve your case.
Once you file, the other party is going to have to be noticed or provided with notification of the divorce action, and that is typically going to happen with a process server, and they’re going to serve them with the petition for dissolution of marriage along with the summons, which is going to walk them through their response times and obligations once the proceedings start. Certain things like an automatic temporary injunction are immediately put into place that prevents either party from significantly dissipating assets.
Key Court Proceedings
The next or the first court proceeding if you have minor children is going to be a parenting plan conference, and the goal at the end of that is to come up with a temporary order that you can follow during the pendency of your Oklahoma divorce matter. Things like child support would be established at this proceeding. There’s also some obligation to disclose some basic financial documents to the other side. After the parenting plan conference, if you have a temporary order, typically the court’s going to order you to go to mediation as part of the process. It’s a great place to be able to settle a case and to resolve the issues that are most important to you in a way that is favorable to you.
Finalizing Your Divorce
I always think it is a good thing when a client gets to choose what they want as the outcome for these important decisions that are affecting their family. Regardless of whether you can agree or not, a child custody determination needs to be made. Property is going to be divided using a fair and equitable standard, not necessarily half. There can be separate property, things acquired before marriage, and we can walk through those issues. Then if you reach an agreement at mediation or through some combination of mediation and perhaps discovery, you can finalize your divorce and go on down the road.
Take the Next Step: Schedule a Consultation
If you’re ready to take the next step and you’d like to set up a time where you can learn more about your particular situation and discuss your needs, please contact me at moms.law. I look forward to meeting you.