Any info on divorce - provider style?

[Medina]

I am actually going through a divorce now. It was easy and free and I didn't need to hire a lawyer. It does depend if you have kids and property. Go to your supreme court and just ask them how.

[ShysterJon]

Originally Posted by Medina

I am actually going through a divorce now. It was easy and free and I didn't need to hire a lawyer. It does depend if you have kids and property. Go to your supreme court and just ask them how.

I think "supreme court" is a term of art for the trial courts in New York state, but the phrase has a different meaning elsewhere. For example, in Texas, the supreme court is an appellate court, not a trial court, it's the highest civil court in the state, and the justices might look at you askance if you went in when the court was in session and asked for help to get a divorce.

[Mazomaniac]

This seems like a good time to also mention that divorce laws can vary dramatically from state to state.

Some states require mandatory mediation during a divorce, others don't. Some states are "community property" states where an equal split of the property between the spouses is presumed, others follow an "equitable distribution" rule that requires a showing of fairness in the property split. Some states ask the kids which parent they want to live with, other states keep the kids isolated from the proceedings as much as they can. Etc, etc, etc.

The major provisions of divorce laws are slowly being standardized across the country with New York finally getting with the program on no-fault divorce early this year. That said, significant differences still exist between the nitty-gritty details as you go from state to state.

For instance, and on a topic of direct interest here, my home state is a community property state where all the property obtained during the marriage is normally split 50-50 between the spouses. One exception to that rule, however, pops up if the hubby has been spending money in the hobby. Hobby expenses are considered to be "expenditures not in the interest of the marriage". They therefore get subtracted from the husband's share of the split and credited to the wife. I'm not sure that rule's been firmly established in too many other jurisdictions.

So two lessons learned: 1) get a lawyer or at least check your local laws on divorce because things will differ from state to state, and 2) if a provider gives you a receipt be sure your wife's divorce lawyer never finds it.

Cheers,
Mazo.

[LAVixian]

If you are willing to pay for the divorce yourself, and the husband in question is not opposed to an uncontested divorce.... you can go to that do it yourself service, paralegals will draw up uncontested divorce paperwork for you in whichever state/county you live in ($250), and you file the paperwork at your local courthouse yourself. no lawyers or anything, if it's what you choose, and you just pay the filing fees to the courthouse. As long as you are not fighting over money/property, you don't even have to fill out the income forms.