Can I avoid my ex dragging out the divorce process? The court has the power to prevent your ex from prolonging the divorce process. You must, however, show or provide evidence that your ex is intentionally delaying the process in order to annoy, harass, or pursue other undesirable objectives.
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The court can actually stop accepting frivolous motions if it is done with ulterior purposes or impose penalties. You must realize that there is a significant difference between a case that is simply taking a while and one that drags on. The court may not share your opinion that a case is taking too long.
Divorce may be an agonizing and protracted process for some couples. A fair pace and amicable resolution to your divorce are possible. Even reticent couples may not have complete control over the divorce procedure. Your divorce can be started as soon as possible so that you can go on with your life more quickly.
Are There Reasonable Delays in the Divorce Process?
The court has internal processes and rules of procedure to follow. A lot of these rules, submissions, and compliance require a processing and waiting period. There is what you can say a lag in the process. These are what you can consider reasonable delays. The time allocated for procedures and compliances is unavoidable and is there to facilitate the compliance of parties in litigation.
To avoid adding more time on top of these reasonable delays, it is best you do everything in your power to comply with court rules and procedures as quickly and responsibly. This is where the role of your attorney comes in handy since they are already experts in the nuances of compliance and the rules of court.
Checking your residency is the first step in determining whether you can really file for divorce in Michigan. This will save you all the time waiting for nothing simply because you chose the venue where you are not qualified to file.
You or your spouse must have lived outside of Michigan for at least 180 days before filing. A circuit court in the county where you or your spouse have lived for at least ten days prior to filing is where a divorce must be filed. You are not needed to file in your home county, though. You may do so if your spouse resides there.
There is a set amount of time after you make your complaint for the opposing party to respond.
Hearings on divorce must be held a year after the complaint is submitted. Therefore, a couple has a year to attempt to settle their disputes through mediation or negotiation. The court will now go forward with the division of marital assets, child support payments, child custody and parenting time, spousal support, and other matters after this opportunity for negotiation or mediation. The court will spend a lot of time on each of the aforementioned issues because they are all already contentious on their own.
Even if the divorce is uncontested, it cannot be finalized unless you and your husband appear at the hearing. The court clerk should arrange the hearing for you if your petition and your request for a consent order were submitted together.
Before the hearing date, you must wait at least 60 days after filing your divorce papers. If you have minor children, you must typically wait six months before filing for divorce. To secure a waiver of the long waiting period, you could assert that it would cause an “extraordinary hardship” or that you have another strong reason to finalize your divorce sooner.
Go check out our article on, “Michigan Divorce Timeline” where we talked about the mandatory 60 and 180 days timelines and the reason waiting periods are institutionalized.
What Is Driving My Ex to Drag Out the Divorce Process?
In many divorce instances, there are two divorcing spouses who each acknowledge that their marriage is over. However, in other situations, one of the partners refuses to accept the breakdown of the marriage. It doesn’t rule out the possibility of divorce, but it does make things more difficult and prolong the process.
What is driving your ex to drag out or prolong the divorce process?
Let’s talk about what’s driving your ex to delay the divorce process.
Your ex-spouse is not ready for a divorce or refuses to have one.
The other person doesn’t genuinely want a divorce, which is one factor and arguably the easiest to understand. Some people really don’t want their marriage to end, and they cling to the hope that with a little more time, they might be able to keep it together. Some people find it difficult to let go or sincerely think they can still save their marriage, which makes this defense of delaying divorce perhaps the least deceptive.
Your ex-spouse is resentful.
Your partner’s behavior is resentful. Your ex-spouse is outraged by the divorce and wants to watch you endure a drawn-out process for months or years. Since they often feel they have little influence over the situation, delaying the divorce process is one way for your ex-spouse to feel in charge.
Your ex-spouse is fiddling with money.
Your spouse is playing with money. The most nefarious excuse for postponing a divorce is when your partner is trying to hide assets, raise your legal costs, stop paying you support, leave you homeless, or run up your attorney fees. These partners frequently engage in a relentless battle to keep you from receiving your fair settlement.
Every stage of the divorce procedure gives the opposite party a limited window to stop the development of your divorce case. Simply put, we’re saying limited because eventually the court will step in and force the divorce case’s calendar to follow the guidelines set by administrative regulations governing the divorce procedure.
How Can I Avoid My Ex Dragging Out the Divorce Process?
Although they may temporarily block or delay the divorce process, your spouse cannot really stop it. There are various ways to get around these delaying strategies, but let’s concentrate on the ones that have the biggest impact on the general course of your case or what we might consider the critical path to the case’s outcome.
Here are some suggestions as to what you can do to keep the case moving forward.
[ 1 ] Be sure to file everything correctly the first time. Make sure you filed in the appropriate court and fulfilled the residence requirement.
[ 2 ] Have your spouse receive the divorce petition by using a process server or a similar delivery agency.
[ 3 ] Request the court’s permission to post the notice in a newspaper or other publication if you can’t locate your spouse to submit the petition.
[ 4] Follow a waiting period of 60 to 180 days before the court can officially decree your divorce, depending on whether you and your spouse had children together.
[ 5 ] Follow the waiting period’s guidelines. There is a 60–180 day waiting time if you and your spouse have children before the court can pronounce your divorce to be complete.
[ 6 ] Do not ask for a default decision until the customary time has expired, during which your spouse has 21 to 28 days from the date you served the papers to respond.
[ 7 ] Speak with your attorney so you can discuss the issues you need to be prepared for, especially now that you know whom you’re working with. We are, in fact, referring to your spouse, the opposing party to your divorce.
You may also opt for mediation. You can ask the court to set up a settlement conference if your partner declines to attend mediation. Usually, settlement meetings take place in the judge’s chambers at the courthouse. If a judge is present, your partner might take the situation more seriously. You must maintain your composure and go forward if your spouse is attempting to put off getting divorced.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.