What If They Do Not Answer?Even with the best intentions, not all marriages last. When a married couple comes to the joint decision that their marriage is irretrievably broken they will need to file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the local divorce court. In situations where only one spouse files a divorce petition, the filer is responsible for seeing that the divorce petition is delivered to his or her spouse via a process server. The purpose of the petition is to not only inform the other spouse of the intention to file for divorce, but it will also make clear any intentions regarding alimony, child custody, child support, property division and more. The other spouse is then required by law to respond to or answer the petition within 20 days from the service of process date. In cases where the other spouse cannot be located, or he or she fails to respond, there are actions which can be taken that will allow the Judge to move forward to conduct a hearing on the case without the other spouse's presence or direct consent.If you wish to file for divorce, yet you are uncertain if your spouse will answer your petition, a Jacksonville divorce attorney at Charles E. Willmott, P.A. can help. Our lead attorney is a Board Certified divorce attorney with close to 20 years experience practicing divorce law. Our firm has represented clients in all types of divorce cases from the simple, uncontested divorce to the extremely complex, high net worth divorce. We are well aware of the options the court has its disposal to move your divorce proceedings forward, even if your spouse does not answer, and skilled representation from our firm will help increase your chances of achieving the most optimum results for your case. Why suffer unnecessary delays and added stress when our firm is here to help you aggressively resolve all of your divorce-related issues. Call us now to find out more about how our firm can help you.
