One of the major areas of practice for the divorce and family law attorneys at Berry Cannon Crawford Macaw, PLLC is divorce. The first step in beginning a divorce is the filing of the Complaint for Divorce. Before that however, it might be helpful to meet with a divorce attorney so that issues such as certain actions and decisions can be discussed as they may have an impact on the outcome of your case. This can assist in preventing mistakes that might possibly affect issues regarding a divorce such as the division of property, responsibility for debts, custody and parenting issues, and financial support issues.
The Complaint for Divorce will contain statistical information and in addition, will contain allegations as it relates to the grounds for divorce. In Tennessee, there are no fault grounds, which are irreconcilable differences, and there are a number of fault grounds available in Tennessee. Once the Complaint for Divorce is prepared and filed with the proper Court, the Complaint must be served on your spouse so that they are provided proper notice. The spouse that is served with the Complaint for Divorce then has 30 days within which to file a formal Answer which is a formal response to the Complaint for Divorce. If a divorce case does in fact remain uncontested and the parties can settle all issues amongst themselves when there are no minor children of the marriage, there is a minimum 60 day waiting period before the divorce can be finalized and if there are minor children of the marriage, there is a minimum 90 day waiting period before the divorce can be finalized. This does not however mean that a divorce cannot be settled and agreed upon by the parties prior to that time, but simply means that this minimum waiting period must pass before the Final Decree of Divorce can be entered and the divorce can be finalized.
What occurs after this point depends on each of the specific issues of your particular divorce case and the parties’ ability to agree on certain issues. A divorce case may proceed in an uncontested manner where parties can reach an agreement, or the case will proceed as a contested divorce and will be resolved by a Judge at trial.
In all divorce cases, there will be a resolution as it relates to the division of any and all property, both real and personal, the division of debt of the parties, child custody and visitation, if there are minor children of the parties, financial support for the minor children, if there are minor children of the parties, and possibly financial support of the parties, if applicable.
If you have questions or would like to learn more, please call Berry Cannon Crawford Macaw, PLLC for more info.