Pennsylvania Divorce Procedures

The divorce procedure begins when one of the divorcing partners accosts a lawyer and readies a Petition for Divorce. This document consists of the following issues.

• Grounds for divorce
• Distribution of property of marital life
• Temporary support of a partner during the lawsuit, also called as Alimony Pendente Lite
• Support for minor children and Dependent partner of the marriage
• Legal and physical custody of the minor children of the marriage

Early Phase of Pennsylvania Divorce Procedure

When the Petition is filed in the court, a statutory filing fee is necessary. This Petition along with the Notice of the filing is served to the Respondent. The number of days after the service date within which the Respondent is supposed to file a Response and if required the counterclaims are mentioned in the Notice.

Now, begins the Discovery Phase. During this phase, both the divorcing partners are expected to make a complete disclosure of all the information they have pertaining to the divorce. The divorcing spouses take the following measures during this period.

• Requesting documents in a Document Demand
• Requesting information by means of Interrogatories
• Scheduling Depositions to have direct testimony of the facts in issue (generally in contested cases)

After the Discovery Phase is successful and all the relevant data has been collected, the divorcing partners attempt settlement negotiations. These can be done in one of the following methods.

• By employing the services of a Mediator (This person is specifically trained in domestic relations settlement facilitation)
• Through assistance of lawyers
• Informally with one another

Latter Phase of Pennsylvania Divorce Procedure

Consider that the divorcing parties have been successful in reaching an agreement. Then, the lawyers of the parties prepare a written version of the agreement. This document is to be filed in the court. If the Judge approves it, then it is made a court order along with the Divorce Decree.

At times, the divorcing parties fail to develop an agreement. The other possibility is that the Judge may disapprove the agreement. In both these cases, the case proceeds to the Trial stage. Before this stage, the divorcing spouses and their attorneys most possibly remain present at pre-trial conferences with court masters. At the trial stage, both the spouses present testimony and witnesses. On the completion of the testimonies and witnesses, the Judge issues the court order. However, this is not the final step. It may occur that one or both parties may have their personal reasons due to which they are having objection regarding the court order. The remedy is that the divorcing parties may appeal against this order in a higher court.

Duration of Divorce Procedure

In 2005, it was found that a mutual consent no fault divorce procedure required about 4 to 5 months to complete. From the filing date of the Complaint, there is a cooling off period of 90 days. On completion of this period, both the divorcing partners file affidavits of consent and thereafter the divorce decree can be entered. However, in case of contested divorces, it was noticed that that the average duration was just above a year and some cases extended for several years.

Divorce Papers