Rhode Island Divorce Procedures

In this state, when a divorce case is filed, it may be assigned the nominal track or the contested track. The Plaintiff has to designate the track of his or her desire. It has been noted that a majority of divorces are opted for the nominal track. When the nominal track is chosen, it does not mean that the divorce is compulsorily uncontested, but that the Plaintiff desires that the divorce must be settled relatively quickly or believes that it can be settled relatively quickly.

Rhode Island Divorce Procedure regarding Answer

The Defendant is allocated 20 days from the date of service to file an Answer to the Petition. The date on which the Answer is filed should never be after any motion date or the nominal court date. If the Defendant fails to file an Answer within the stipulated period, it is considered as a default. In such circumstances, the Plaintiff is offered all the relief that was requested.

Rhode Island Divorce Procedure regarding Discovery

Discovery is defined as a procedure during which the divorcing parties get admissions or information from the opposite party. The significance of this procedure becomes obvious when the divorcing partners do not have sufficient data regarding the nature and extent of the estate and marital property of the other partner.

There are many discovery methods as detailed below.

Subpoena Duces Tecum

This is an efficient method to procure documents from third parties like wage records, employment records, stock records, bank records etc.

Request for Production of Documents

A roster of requested documents is prepared and a time period is satisfied within which a Response to the list must be provided. Some of the documents that may be demanded are as follows.

• Real estate documents
• Bank statements
• Estate Planning documents
• Stock accounts
• Health insurance records
• Wage documents
• Employment documents
• Retirement accounts
• 401K records
• Pension plan documents

Depositions

Deposition means that one divorcing party in the presence of a court reporter asks the opposite party some questions through a lawyer that have to be answered under oath. The Family Courts in this state have a rule according to which, one divorcing party must take permission of the court or leave of court to execute a deposition.

This divorce procedure is very exorbitant due to the following reasons.

• The attorney usually needs several hours to prepare the questions and the attorney charges for all this time
• Attorneys of both the parties must compulsorily attend the deposition and both of them charge for the complete duration of the deposition
• The transcript produced by the court reporters generally costs several hundred dollars

Interrogatories

These are written questions that may be sent from one party to the other. As per the statute in this state, every side is permitted 32 interrogatories. These questions may be related to mental health history, valuation of assets, criminal history, restraining orders, domestic violence pertaining orders, personal injury claims, estate planning and trust issues, real estate issues, health insurance claims, alimony, gambling addiction etc.

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