ABOUT DIVORCE

 

             If you are about to undergo a divorce you should consult an attorney. There are complicated issues that you will need to decide and the effects of those decisions may permanently affect you and your family. There are issues regarding child custody, visitation, support, allocation of debt responsibility, and division of property that must be resolved. There are also important tax consequences to each of these decisions. You should be informed on all of these issues before you make any agreements. 

            In Alabama there are certain things that the court requires before it will even look at the divorce Petition and which your attorney would have to put in a legal document. Alabama requires that there be grounds for the divorce. There are some states that are “no-fault” such as Florida but in Alabama there must be grounds alleged and proved. Some of the grounds are incapacity, adultery, imprisonment, and habitual drunkenness. There are others. In addition you must meet the residency requirement. You must be an Alabama resident for six months next to filing. That means you must have physically resided in Alabama for the six months immediately preceding the date on which you file your paperwork asking for a divorce. 

            Divorces may be uncontested or contested. In an uncontested divorce the parties agree on all of the issues such as child custody, support and property division. An uncontested divorce still requires that you file the necessary paperwork with the court and may require a brief hearing that you or an attorney would be required to attend. A contested divorce is one in which the parties cannot agree and is similar to any other lawsuit. It is lengthy, stressful and expensive. 

            In some states a process called mediation is part of the divorce proceedings. In Alabama a party must request mediation before the court will order mediation. In mediation a neutral third party helps the husband and wife discuss the issues that they cannot resolve themselves. The mediation is confidential, is scheduled quickly and can be a fairly cost-effective way to resolve the issues and speed up the final divorce. If the mediation is unsuccessful then the parties go before a judge just as they would have before mediation. In Mediation no one is forced to do or agree to anything. Only by mutual consent do the parties agree and if agreement is reached it is reduced to writing.