Question about finalization

[closertofine]

This is not about legal advice. But a post in the randoms got me thinking, if the divorce is uncontested and we already took care of all the equitable distribution stuff, what does the actual end of this process look like? I'll be meeting with my attorney in a couple weeks before the custody hearing, so I can ask her then, but I was curious if this is something standard or is it state specific.

[Deleted]

It's all dependent on your state. Especially with kids, it can differ. I had no kids. We divided our assets and signed the papers in front of a notary and mailed them to the appropriate office. Waited six months and then received the divorce decree in the mail. Everyone's end will be different.

[itsmyparty]

In my state, which has a 90 day waiting period (ha! it's taken us 8 months to resolve this), you can come up with a settlement (which is what we're doing), which is what we're doing with the help of our attorneys. My attorney drew up a settlement offer, we've negotiated to an agreement, and now my attorney drew up the final legal papers/decree. Me and my attorney sign it, he and his attorney sign it, I guess he has to go to court to go on record that he's accepting of it as the respondent, then the judge signs off on our decree/paperwork in court and it's final. I believe we're then mailed a final recorded copy of the decree for our records.

[brooke77]

It is state specific. My ex and I filed jointly without attorneys. There were about 5 papers we had to file, including a joint petition, detailed notarized financial documents, and a separation agreement. We had to meet in front of the judge who asked us some basic questions (date of marriage, where we lived, if I wanted to change my name back, if we understood the documents we signed) and then she said she found that our marriage was irreconcilable. There is a 120 day period between the judge ruling and finalization.

The process is similar if one person files, except the finalization period is 90 days.