STEP BY STEP THROUGH YOUR CASE

1. Divorce, Legal Separation, or Annulment?
2. Information Gathering
3. Preparing Your Court Documents
4. Filing Your Papers and Starting Your Waiting Period
5. Finalizing Your Uncontested Divorce
6. Finalizing Your Contested Divorce

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Step 1. DIVORCE, LEGAL SEPARATION, OR ANNULMENT?

Divorce. In a divorce (dissolution of marriage) the court will terminate your marriage, divide up your assets and debts, enter a parenting plan, provide for child support, and take care of other matters such as alimony and protective orders. There is only one ground for divorce in the State of Washington: The marriage is irretrievably broken. You do not have to explain why the marriage is broken, and the courts usually do not want to hear why it is broken. Consequently, it is not necessary to say anything bad about your spouse. This "no fault" procedure is designed to avoid unnecessary conflict. There is a mandatory 90 day waiting period between the time you commence your divorce and the time the court will grant your final decree.

Legal Separation. A legal separation allows you to separate your financial affairs and live separately without ending the marriage. The court does all the same things as in a divorce except that the marriage is not terminated. It is important to understand that the division of property and debts in a legal separation is final. You cannot get a legal separation and go back later and re-divide the property when you get a divorce. There is no waiting period for a legal separation, but you cannot get a divorce for at least six months after your legal separation is granted. The steps below refer to obtaining a divorce, but they also apply to legal separations.

Annulment. You can get your marriage annulled only if there was something defective (invalid) about it at the time you got married. You will be granted a decree of invalidity (annulment) only if you can prove one of the required grounds. The below refer to obtaining a divorce, but they also apply to annulments.

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Step 2. INFORMATION GATHERING

This is the most important step, and it is not difficult. The information you gather will assist the attorney in protecting you and your children and in saving you money. Without the correct information the attorney cannot answer your questions or prepare your court documents. You must include certain personal information or the court will not accept your papers.

Property and Debts. If you leave out a retirement plan, real estate, vehicle, bank account, or some other property, you may get a real shock later when you find out that your ex-spouse owns half of it! You must correctly describe all your property in order to make sure that you get what you want - even if you believe that it already belongs to you alone. If you do not list the debts you want your spouse to pay, you will not be able to force your spouse to pay them later.

Dependent Children. If you have dependent children, you must provide adequate information for the preparation of a parenting plan and a child support order (even if you do not want child support) or the court will not grant your divorce. Some people refuse to give income information because they do not want to pay child support and get a surprise when the state calculates the support due based upon an "imputed" income which is much higher than their actual income.

Help Gathering Information. The free information packet/questionnaire offered by Anastasia L. Karson and Elizabeth C. Wallace, is designed to help you list all your property, debts, and other information in a simple and concise manner. If you would like to order the free information packet/questionnaire, click here.

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Step 3. PREPARING YOUR COURT DOCUMENTS

The Mandatory Forms. The State of Washington has mandatory forms which are different from the forms used in any other state. If you do not use these mandatory forms, the clerk will refuse to file your papers and the judge will refuse to grant your divorce.

Getting the Mandatory Forms. The county clerk at any county courthouse in the State of Washington will sell you a copy of the mandatory forms or you can download a copy of the forms from the Web site for the office of the court administrator at www.wa.gov/courts/.

Filling Out the Forms. The mandatory forms come with a written set of instructions. These instructions are designed to help you fill out the forms. If you have a very simple divorce, these instructions may be sufficient for your case. If you have children or any property to protect, however, you will need help filling out the forms.

Attorney Prepared Forms. The best way to make sure that your divorce forms protect you and your children is to have them prepared by an attorney. You provide the information, and the attorney prepares the forms. It is best if the attorney also represent you in the divorce. Anastasia L. Karson or Elizabeth C. Wallace, will prepare all your court forms and represent you in court in your uncontested divorce for a fee of $200 if there are no dependent children of the marriage or $250 if there are dependent children. If you want the attorney-prepared forms and representation, click here.

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Step 4. FILING YOUR PAPERS AND STARTING YOUR WAITING PERIOD

The Courthouse File. To start your waiting period a file for your case must be opened at the county courthouse, and you must make your spouse a party to the court case. The attorney takes care of opening your court file by paying the clerk of the court the filing fee and filing your petition in the file.

Joint Petition. The simplest and least expensive way to make your spouse a party to the court case is have him or her sign a joint petition. If your spouse signs the petition, the 90 day waiting period begins as soon as the petition is filed in your court file. In other words, the 90 day waiting period begins after these three things happen: (1) you sign the petition; (2) your spouse signs the petition; and (3) the petition is filed with the court. If your spouse will sign the petition, you can skip the remainder of this Step 4 because it is not necessary to prepare a summons or serve the papers on your spouse.

The Summons. If your spouse is missing or refuses to sign the petition, things get a little more complicated. In order to make your spouse a party to the court case, you will have to attach a summons to the petition and have the summons and petition "served" on your spouse. In this case, the 90 day waiting period does not begin until the following three things happen: (1) you and the attorney (if you are using an attorney) sign the petition and the summons; (2) the summons and petition are filed in the court file; and (3) a copy of the summons and petition are served on your spouse.

Serving the Summons and Petition. There are three ways to serve the summons and petition on your spouse. The first is by having a process server hand your spouse a copy of the summons and petition. This is called "personal service." The second is by mailing the summons and petition by certified mail, but this cannot be done until after a judge has signed an order giving permission to use certified mail. The third method is to publish the summons in a newspaper, but this cannot be done until you have demonstrated to the court that you have looked for your spouse and have inquired of relative and friends who might know where he or she is. The courts are reluctant to allow service by certified mail or publication because there is no guarantee that your spouse has actually been notified of the fact that you are divorcing him or her. In addition, you may not get child support or other things you want because of the limitations of service by certified mail or publication. Once you have served a copy of the summons, you must file another document with the court as proof that the summons was served on your spouse. If you do not file this proof, the judge will not sign your papers at the end of the 90 day waiting period.

Proposed Parenting Plan. If you have dependent children of this marriage, you will also have to prepare and file a proposed parenting plan on the mandatory forms. This contains your proposal regarding which of you the children should live with and when the children should visit the other parent. If your spouse is not signing a joint petition, you will also have to serve a copy of your proposed parenting plan on your spouse.

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Step 5. FINALIZING YOUR UNCONTESTED DIVORCE

Final Papers. At the end of your 90 day waiting period, the attorney will have you sign your final papers. If there are no dependent children of this marriage and you spouse signed a joint petition, you will need only the first two documents listed below. Otherwise, you may need all of the following documents prepared on the mandatory forms:

1. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
2. Decree of Dissolution of Marriage
3. Final Parenting Plan
4. Child Support Worksheets
5. Order of Child Support
6. Motion and Declaration for Default
7. Order of Default

Going to Court. After you have signed your final papers, they need to be presented to the judge or court commissioner. In some counties in Washington the lawyer can go to court and finalize the divorce for you without you having to appear in court. In other counties, you have to go the court with the lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer representing you, you will have to go to court yourself and present the papers.

Getting the Final Papers Signed by the Judge. If you have properly prepared all the required documents, the judge or court commissioner will sign your final papers and your divorce will be complete. If you have made mistakes in the papers, the judge or court commissioner will refuse to sign the papers until you have corrected them and returned to the court a second time. Depending on the mistakes which were made in the papers, they may have to be served on your spouse before the judge or court commissioner will sign the changed papers. This may cause additional delays and expense in finalizing your divorce.

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Step 6. FINALIZING YOUR CONTESTED DIVORCE

Contests. At any time before the judge signs your final papers, your spouse can file papers with the court indicating that he or she disagrees with something in the papers which you have filed. The disagreement can be about anything from who gets the silverware to how much child support should be paid. It does not matter how large or small the disagreement is. Once the court has conflicting papers from you and your spouse, the court has to have a trial to settle the differences. Both of you are entitled to appear in court and argue your side of the case.

Temporary Orders. Since trials may not occur until months or years after you have filed for your divorce, you are entitled to go to court before the trial and get temporary orders to cover certain important matters until the trial can be held. These temporary orders can provide for temporary custody of children, child support, protection from harassment, preservation of assets, and many more matters. Temporary orders require that additional papers be filed with the court and that a hearing be held in front of the judge or court commissioner, so they can be very expensive.

Trial Preparation. Your attorney will have to spend a great deal of time investigating the facts of your case, working with the witnesses who can help you, and preparing your case to be presented to the judge. The more populous counties have schedules set up requiring your lawyer to file certain documents on certain dates as the trial approaches. Because each case is unique the trial preparation varies greatly. The more things you and your spouse disagree about, the more expensive your trial preparation will be.

Trial. At your trial the attorney will present evidence which supports your position, and your spouse's attorney will present evidence supports your spouse's position. The judge will then decide how the disputes will be settled. After that the attorneys will prepare the final papers on the mandatory forms which set out what the judge decided. The attorneys will then present the final papers to the judge for the judge's signature. When the judge signs the final papers, the divorce is final.

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