Divorce is one of life's most painful experiences. It can be handled as an uncontested or contested divorce. According to Divorcenet.com, a contested divorce occurs when your spouse does not agree to the divorce outright or does not agree to the terms in the divorce filing.
Filing
When a divorce is filed, the law states that the petitioner must serve the other party with divorce papers by mail, sheriff or process server. Once you have served your spouse with the petition or your spouse has served you, the divorce can be contested. This can mean contesting the divorce itself or contesting the stipulations of division of joint assets or debts. Child custody, child support and spousal support can also be contested.
What Happens When Divorce Is Contested?
A divorce can be considered contested when either your spouse contests the divorce or you contest your spouse's divorce filing. If you are the one who has been served with divorce papers, you have 30 days from the date of service to file a response to the divorce petition. Contesting the divorce or any of the stipulation in the filing that affect assets, child support, child custody or alimony must be done within 30 days of filing the response.
Emotional And Financial Drain
If either party contests a divorce, it is usually just the beginning of exhaustive financial and emotional drain. The more issues that are contested in the divorce, the longer the divorce takes and the more complex it becomes. Every single issue that is contested adds money and time to the process. Attorneys must be paid to be mediators for you and your spouse toward settling the disagreements that are affecting the proceedings. The emotional stress that comes from a long, drawn out divorce can be as bad as the financial stress.
Decisions
Once all attempts to resolve the issues that are being contested have been exhausted, the courts will step in to decide how all of the issues will be resolved. Instead of you and your spouse agreeing together on the best ways to divide the marital assets or how to arrange child support and custody, the judge will step in to decide for you. When the divorce is contested, your future is literally in the hands of the legal system.
Avoidance
According to GreatDivorceAdvice.com, you can avoid the stresses of a contested divorce by working with your spouse to come to an agreeable solution regarding the division of any assets that were acquired during the marriage, which debts will be paid together and which debts will be split and how much alimony or child support will be paid, if any. Working out a shared custody plan is usually best for everyone involved. By settling these issues outside of court, you are assured that you will avoid the burden of money, time and emotional drain that comes with the contested divorce.
