Montana Divorce Steps
Divorce Papers > Divorce Steps > Montana Divorce Steps
In this state, divorce is referred to by a legal term and that is "dissolution of marriage." The first divorce step in any dissolution is that one married partner files a Petition for Dissolution in a Montana District Court. This partner is known as the Petitioner. The spouse of the Petitioner is called as the Respondent.
The next step is that the Petitioner serves a copy of the Petition to the Respondent. If the Respondent cannot be located, then, the Petitioner has to perform Service by Publication. The court allocates the Respondent 20 days from the service date to file a Response to the allegations in the Petition. If the Respondent does not do so, the court considers the Respondent to be in default. This is called as a Default Dissolution.
Highlights of Montana Divorce Steps
- In case of a Default Dissolution, the court grants the Petitioner all that is requested in the Petition as far as the requests are fair in the view of the court. If the Petitioner has children and the court thinks that the parenting plan mentioned in the Petition is in the best interests of the children, then it is awarded
- Any partner can request the court to issue interim orders that would be enforceable till the final dissolution decree is granted. Some examples of interim orders are as follows
- Temporary Order of Protection: This order is applicable when one spouse feels that he or she and the children are in danger due to the other spouse. As per this order, the other spouse cannot establish contact with the protected spouse and protected children
- Temporary Maintenance Order: One partner can request this order if the partners have been married for a long time and one partner is in need of temporary economical help, while the dissolution process is in progress
- Temporary Child Support Order: When the divorcing partners have separated, the partner having primary custody would require some amount of money from the other parent while the divorce process in pending. The District Court immediately schedules a hearing to determine the temporary support payment
- As per the Montana law, each partner must offer the other partner, a preliminary disclosure of the expenses, income, debts and assets within 60 days from the date of service of the Petition. If any partner fails to do so, then, the court regards the statement of the other partner as an authentic one. If any partner furnishes a false statement intentionally, the court might consider this as a contempt of court and levy certain fine or due penalty
- One of the Montana Divorce Steps that is held in the early part of the lawsuit is termed as a Scheduling Conference. Both the parties must attend this conference. The steps taken during this conference are as follows
- Deciding the date for trial
- Setting a deadline for the following steps
- Disclosure of trial exhibits and witnesses
- Completion of mediation
- Completion of discovery
After this conference is over, the courts in this state liberally grant extensions of the deadlines. The court exercises this right although any partner has any objection to it
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