How to proceed with Divorce matters - By: Richard French

Divorce Proceedings differ from one country to another. The time taken depends upon on the nature and extent of the ancillary issues to be resolved as well as the court's caseload.

Again, different countries and States have different rules. However, it usually doesn't matter where you got married. Rather, to establish jurisdiction you normally need to satisfy some residency, domicile or citizenship before you can file proceedings.

Given the length of time before the proceedings will come before the court for hearing, it is often necessary to seek interim orders to deal with issues during the intervening period. These might be matters such as domestic violence restraining orders, sole occupancy of the former matrimonial home, interim custody, access and maintenance orders.

The outcome of interim applications can be extremely important when it comes to custody as there is reluctance by the courts to disturb the existing status quo. For example, if you have had interim custody of the children for the preceding 12 months, this is likely to go in your favor if and when it comes to the final hearing.

In most jurisdictions, the court will insist that the parties attend counseling, mediation and where children are involved, co-parenting classes. The reason for counseling and mediation is to try and create an environment where the parties can hopefully negotiate their own settlement. The success rate of mediations is quite high and this in turn, reduces the number of cases the court has to deal with at a full hearing.

The goal of requiring parties to attend co-parenting classes is to educate the parents on how to minimize the impact of divorce on any child or children of the marriage. In some jurisdictions, even the children of the marriage (over a certain age) may be required to attend a class to teach them skills to help them cope with divorcing parents. This is not that widespread as many courts are reluctant to unnecessarily involve the children of the marriage in the court and its processes.

The purpose of a Case Review Conference is to discuss outstanding issues and to make Orders or Directions as to the discovery of relevant documents, the delivering and answering of interrogatories and the allocation of a hearing date.
Both parties will normally be required to disclose any documents in their custody, possession or control that are relevant to the issues in the proceedings. This is particularly so in the case of property settlement and/or maintenance matters.

About the Author

Atlanta Divorce Attorney can be contacted for any kind of family law issues.

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