North Dakota Divorce Steps
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North Dakota Divorce Steps regarding filing and service
- The first divorce step is to meet the court clerk in the courthouse and obtain the necessary divorce documents, fill them and file them by self
- If the Petitioner has a lawyer, then, the Petitioner can hand over the responsibility of filing to the lawyer
- In case the Petitioner can not afford a lawyer, the Petitioner can seek low cost representation from organizations that offer legal representation at a low cost or no cost
- The next step is to serve the divorce papers to the Respondent
- It is not mandatory that the Petitioner must serve the divorce documents personally
- The Petitioner must contact the local Sheriff's office and enquire how to serve the Respondent
- It has been observed that in several cases, the Sheriff's department takes up the responsibility of the service
- Another method is that a private process server or a constable serves the documents
- If the Respondent has been abusive to the Petitioner in the past, the Petitioner must not serve the documents personally
North Dakota Divorce Steps regarding the Answer
- The court allocates the Respondent 20 days from the date of service to file an Answer
- If the Respondent fails to answer within the 20 days, the court considers the case as a default judgment. The court offers the Petitioner all that the Petitioner has demanded in the Petition
- Another outcome is that the Respondent files an Answer and agrees with all the points mentioned in the Petition. The court regards this as an uncontested divorce. In this case also, the court gives the Petitioner all that he or she has requested in the Petition
- A third outcome is that the Respondent files an Answer and disagrees with some of the points in the Petition. This is an example of a contested divorce
Divorce Steps of a contested divorce
- The divorcing partners share one another's information during a process known as Discovery
- The partners attempt to reach a consensus regarding the divorce issues without approaching the court
- Such a consensus is drafted in written form and is called as an agreement
- This agreement is presented to the judge
- The judge schedules an informal hearing to ascertain that the divorcing partners have understood the agreement
- In case the judge endorses the agreement, the judge might issue a divorce decree
- If the partners fail to reach an agreement, they approach the court and undergo a trial
- During the trial, the partners furnish evidence and argue for their aims
- The judge oversees the trial and after considering all the evidence and hearing all the testimonies finalizes the divorce and issues a divorce decree
- During a trial, the partners usually feel the need of a lawyer
The divorce decree is a document that declares that the married partners are presently legally divorced.
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