My husband and I are talking about getting a divorce after six years of marriage. We don’t have any children, and he thinks we can do it ourselves. What do you think?
Doing your own divorce makes sense if your case is not complicated, your marriage was of short duration, you and your spouse have no substantial assets, you have no minor children, and you and your spouse can reach a fair and amicable settlement yourselves. If you or your spouse own a business, have hard-to-value assets, are engaged in other legal proceedings, or have assets which are not clearly either separate or marital property, you have a complicated divorce on your hands, and will need the help of an attorney skilled in family law matters. You definitely will want specialized advice if one of you is in bankruptcy, or is headed that way.
Even if you do your own divorce, you may need help from a professional such as an accountant, financial adviser, mortgage broker, real estate agent, banker, mediator, and others. There are many decisions that you must make that will affect your financial future, and in your emotional state you may not be thinking clearly about your situation.
Several unusual situations can make divorce more costly, frustrating and time-consuming, including having a spouse out of state, out of the country or out of his mind. Divorce may also be complicated if one of you is in the military service or is a non-resident alien. And as much as you may wish it at times, divorce can become devastatingly complicated if your spouse dies during the proceedings.
My husband suffers from bipolar. I dated him for 3 years and he was charming. It is certainly going to end in divorce as his behavior is difficult for me to deal with. I am facing major surgery in one month and he has the family health insurance policy through work. We live in Michigan. He is threatening to drop my coverage prior to surgery. Are there laws to prevent this until after the divorce?
I don’t know the laws in Michigan, so I don’t know whether he can discontinue your health insurance. But he is putting himself at financial risk if he does so. That’s because you are each responsible for the other’s support, care and debts. So if you have a major illness or injury, he is financially responsible. If and when one of you files for separation or divorce, then an automatic order will probably go into place against canceling any insurance until further court order.
My husband and I have been married for almost 20 years. I was going to proceed with divorce, but then he got laid off from an academic institution that he worked at for almost 30 years. We hired an attorney to litigate his case to negotiate severance pay. This happened 1 week ago. So my question is, am I entitled to his severance? He will likely get a large sum of money. I’m self-employed and have not had any income for the last 6 months so he’s been in complete control of the money. In fact, he took everything out of our joint account and opened a personal account so that I don’t have any access. I have to ask him for money to buy every little thing, even a coffee. I feel stuck. What are my rights? He claims that everything is “his” money since I have not contributed to the money pot in 6 months. I’ve been selling my own stuff on eBay just to have a little cash.
Thank you for your help. I was going to do mediation, but this may be more complicated. I may need to hire an attorney, but I’m not sure how I can even pay for assistance when I have no access to funds.
Mediation still might be your best avenue. In mediation, the mediator can talk about your rights to share in the funds, his duty to support his family, and perhaps get him “calmed down” so he doesn’t hold the pursestrings so tight. You are likely entitled to part of the severance, either as a property distribution or as funds available to pay you support.
I want to file a divorce and I don’t want any things from him. We owned the house. What is the procedure for that. We don’t have kids.
You can get the papers to file from your local courthouse.
What happens if your ex SAYS he will agree to everything but then on the divorce paperwork lies about even working and where the kids really live?the lawyer can’t accept that paperwork right?or if they do the divorce will become contested?and what happens if the other party can’t or won’t hire an attorney?
These are questions you should ask your attorney. If your ex signs paperwork under penalty of perjury that you can show is not true, then the court will look very unfavorably on him. If you and he don’t agree on things, then your divorce is contested. If your ex won’t hire an attorney then he will be representing himself in the divorce action.
I have been waiting for approximately 7 month for my ex to “correctly” fill out the judgement papers so our divorce can be finalized. He keeps saying that the courts keep sending back the papers to him with corrections needed. We have been going through a divorce for almost 5 years now and I the man I am currently seeing has been waiting patiently for a year to marry me. At this point I want to hire an attorney to finish the paper work but it almost seems pointless since everything is done, just his lack of competence. How can I speed up the process? By the way, we went through the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Thank you
You can request that your marital status be terminated, even if the final paperworrk isn’t yet done, which would enable you to remarry. And you can ask to see ( or take over) the paperwork process and where it stands.