In an Uncontested Divorce issues are agreed on by the parties,
documents are drafted, both parties sign them in front of a notary
and they are submitted to the court with the court cost and no party
is served by the sheriff or other process server. Occasionally the
other party may hire their own attorney to represent them in working
out an agreement. Sometimes both parties will agree to go to
mediation. Usually the other party does not hire an attorney and
signs a document that the Plaintiff attorney prepares that informs the
Defendant that they have a right to hire an attorney and it is in their
intrest to do so and they wish to proceed without one.
A Contested Divorce is where one party (Plaintiff) has an attorney
draft documents and file them with the court and has the other party
(Defendant) served by the sheriff or other process server with notice
of the case by way of a summons. Occasionally the Plaintiff or
Defendant may need to file emergency motions for matters
concerning temporary custody,support,use of residence or vehicle.
The Defendant then would usually hire an attorney and that attorney
would file an answer to the complaint and attend any emergency
hearings. The judge would rule on any temporary emergency matters
generally and set a trial and pre-trial date. The attorneys would
generally file various motions to get information from the other party
commonly called Discovery motions. These motions can be in the
form of "Motions for Discovery, Interrogatories, Request for
production of documents, Depositions, Request for admissions etc" .
Generally after all the information is gathered through these motions
the attorneys may send offers to settle to each other. If the parties
are unable to settle the case at the pre-trial conference the judge will
set the case for trial and after the trial the judge will issue an order
concerning all issues in the divorce including but not limited to child
custody, child support, child visitation, personal property division,
real property division, alimony, retirement benefits etc. The judge
could also require the parties to attend mediation before having a
trial.