What are the steps I need to take after my spouse has been served with divorce papers? 24 Answers as of January 05, 2012

Generically speaking, the next step is to file with the court a form called Proof of Service of Summons (form FL-115). The next step after that is to fill out your preliminary disclosure forms (forms FL-142 and FL-150), and "serve" them on your spouse. You can go online and look up California Family Code section 2104 to learn about the preliminary disclosure requirements. After both parties have served their preliminary disclosures, you should sit down with your spouse and discuss settlement terms on all outstanding issues that may exist in your case, such as asset/debt division, spousal support, child support, custody, etc. Best to hire a local family law lawyer to help you learn your rights and develop a divorce plan of action.

The next step in the process is to engage in discovery. Discovery is when both parties in the divorce disclose to one another their respective financial positions. In addition, if you have children, you may want to file motions for temporary orders, seeking child support, possibly alimony, health insurance and various other issues that may need to be addressed on a temporary basis prior to your final divorce hearing. Sometimes, it is helpful to try and settle the matter if you can agree how to divide assets, liabilities and child related issues, otherwise, the case after discovery proceeds to a pre-trial hearing (that is when you give the Judge a summary of what you believe is a fair and reasonable division of the marital assets, liabilities and custody issues), if it can't be settled at that point then the case will proceed to trial. Without knowing more information, that is a very brief synopsis of how a divorce case proceeds. I suggest you contact an attorney to discuss your case in more detail in order to protect your interests in your divorce case.

Your spouse will have 30 days from the date of service in which to file an answer or other pleading in response to your Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and to file an Appearance either on his or her own behalf or through an attorney. Depending on whether or not they do so you will need to follow both statutory and local rules relative to the relief you are seeking in your Petition and based your spouses response or non-response.

Wait for his answer to the petition or notification by the court of a settlement conference date. Your attorney may file additional documents I'm the interim.

Normally, the Court in Jefferson County, Colorado, will issues a Case Management Order which will need to be followed. Typically a Status Conference will be held before you are allowed to set the matter for either a Temporary Orders Hearing and/or a Permanent Orders Hearing. Consult with an attorney.

Your attorney should have advised you of the steps involved. Your husband should meet with or sign and return them to your attorney. if the divorce is uncontested, your attorney will file the papers with the court. If it is contested then your husband or his lawyer will file his papers and you or your lawyer will file yours. The court will consider the papers and make the proper ruling,either a divorce or schedule a trial to hear both sides and then make its ruling. All told it will require time. Be patient.

Under Washington state law, your spouse has 20 days to file a written "Response" to your Petition (60 days if s/he lives outside the state). If s/her does not respond, or if all issues are agreed to in writing, you can finalize your dissolution by having the court sign a Decree of Dissolution after 90 days have expired. Most Superior Courts in Washington state have a "family court facilitator" at the courthouse to answer your nuts and bolts questions.

In Arizona, she has 20 days from the date of service to file a response or 30 days if she was served out of state. If she does not file within the time frame, you can file a default.

You've already made one enormous mistake in serving someone papers without a lawyer, especially when you had no idea what to do next. Before making more missteps (and serving papers is often an expensive misstep), get a lawyer. Do so ASAP to redo what you served and to do the appropriate followup which may include mandatory ADR/mediation, proposed agreements, parenting plans, agreements, stipulation to trial, discovery and motions.

California requires both of you to exchange a Declaration of Disclosure. Then you need to determine what is community property and what is separate property. Then support must be analyzed to determine rights and obligations. If there are any questions about a spouse hiding assets, then comprehensive discovery should take place with document productions, interrogatories, depositions and subpoenas. Once you have determined what there is, then a division plan be developed. If no agreement can be reached, then an application for a trial date will have to be made, and you will then each place your admissible evidence before the court to make a ruling.

If your spouse resides in Maryland, he/she has 30 days in which to file a written response. If and when a response is filed, the court will set a date for a scheduling conference where you will both go to court for the first time to establish the issues in the case and to set future dates. If no timely response is filed, you would then need to file a request for default judgment to get the case scheduled.

The first most important step is to draft, serve and file an Answer and Counter Petition to her papers within thirty (30) days. If you do not do so and do so properly, you may face a default proceeding where her Petition is viewed as if uncontested. The second step his to consult with and hire legal counsel. Ideally, this should precede step one.

In Nevada you should file a Financial Disclosure form and then wait the 20 days after service of the complaint for the answer. If there is no answer in 20 days then pursue default.

Once served, your spouse has 20 days (30 if served out of state) to file a written Response. During that time, there's nothing you need to do (although you may want to consult with an attorney to determine whether "temporary orders" are appropriate in your situation). If a Response is not filed within the appropriate timeframe, you may be able to file an application for default and move forward with the divorce without the other party's participation. If a Response is filed, the other party will be permitted to participate, and it is likely that one or more hearings/conference will be scheduled to address settlement (or litigation) for your case.