Divorce proceedings can be either contested or uncontested. The divorce process takes into account whether a marriage had children or not. So how does a Michigan uncontested divorce with children work? Regardless of whether a divorce is contentious or not, the procedure remains the same.
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You and your spouse must agree on parenting time, child custody, child and spousal support in order for your divorce to be uncontested. Since no party is objecting to any party’s proposal, you are in complete agreement on those matters. In every divorce settlement, the most difficult issues are usually those involving property distribution, parenting time, child custody, and spousal support.
The Truth About Divorce With Children
You’ve finally made up your mind and you’re going to start your path to ending your marriage.
Filing the complaint.
You are the Plaintiff in a divorce case, and your husband is the Defendant. When the Plaintiff serves a summons, a complaint, and other necessary papers to the court, the divorce case officially begins.
You must serve or mail copies of your completed paperwork to your spouse after you file it. Typically, service is performed by having someone hand deliver the documents to your spouse personally or by mailing to them via registered or certified mail.
The answer to the complaint.
If your partner wants to take part in the divorce proceedings, they must promptly serve you with a copy of their Answer after filing it with the court. If they were personally served with your Summons and Complaint for Divorce, their deadline is 21 days following receipt of the documents. They have 28 days to file and serve an answer whether they were served by mail or outside of Michigan.
The document known as the Answer addresses each section of your complaint for divorce. Your spouse should detail in the response which portions of your complaint they concur with and which aspects they find objectionable.
This is the part where you might want to think about speaking to an attorney if your spouse files an answer and you don’t agree on all of the key divorce issues.
Default and the default request.
If your spouse fails to submit an Answer by the deadline, you must submit a document called a Default Request and Entry, have the clerk sign it, and mail your spouse a copy.
The court will dismiss your divorce case if your spouse fails to timely file and serve an Answer and you fail to timely file a Default Request and Entry. To keep your divorce proceeding, the Default Request and Entry form must be submitted.
When you file the Default Request and Entry form and the clerk signs it, your spouse is “defaulted,” which means they are not allowed to participate in the divorce proceedings. They may have to ask the judge first to set aside the default, before the judge grants their request.
The divorce judgment.
You will be able to petition the judge to enter a divorce judgment with the terms you wish, without consulting your spouse, if your spouse defaults and they do not submit a request to set aside the default. This does not necessarily imply that the judge will accept your suggested judgment.
Your divorce agreement must still be fair and legally binding. For instance, the custody plans must be in the children’s best interests and the property allocation must be equitable.
The waiting period. You might still want to reconsider.
A six-month waiting period is required if you and your spouse have children together before your divorce may be finalized. Even if you and your husband were already separated when you filed for divorce, the waiting period starts when you do. Your divorce may take longer than six months if you and your husband can’t agree on everything.
If you can convince the judge that it would be unusually difficult for you or your children to wait the full 180 days to finalize your divorce, the judge may reduce the waiting time. For more compelling reasons, the judge may potentially cut the waiting period short. The judge is not permitted to reduce the overall waiting period below 60 days.
You can’t wait. You want the waiting period to be shorter.
You must submit a motion if you want to request the judge decrease the waiting period. Fill in the Notice of Hearing and Motion, and Order forms. These are forms available in the local court.
Title your motion “Motion to Waive the Statutory Waiting Period” and describe in the body of the motion why there is an urgent need to stop the divorce before the end of the full waiting period due to unusual hardship or another reason.
Request a hearing date from the court clerk when you file your paperwork there. At least nine days prior to the date of your hearing, you must mail a copy of everything you file to your spouse. To prove you served your spouse with a copy of your motion, fill out the certificate of mailing section and submit it to the court. Bring the completed top portion of the order to the hearing.
You can try mediation.
During the waiting time, you can be advised to attend mediation to assist you and your spouse in settling the disputed matters in your case. Examples of these matters are property and debt division, child custody, etc.. A mediator is an impartial party who assists you and the other party in trying to reach a compromise. If you consent to mediation or if the judge requires it, you can be referred there. There can be a cost. A mediator might be a private or Friend of the Court mediator. If this is an uncontested divorce, ideally you should not be needing a mediator.
You can also try arbitration.
If there are aspects of your case that you and your spouse can’t agree on, you two may decide to proceed with arbitration. Arbitration is an optional procedure. This means that in order for arbitration to take place, all parties must consent to it and agree on the specific topic or issues the arbitrator will determine. For the arbitrator to hear and resolve their case, the parties must pay a fee. In an uncontested divorce, you also should not be needing an arbitrator.
You might reconsider and dismiss the divorce case.
If you can easily agree on supposedly contentious issues, you may want to hold off on divorce. You and your spouse can decide you don’t want to divorce while your divorce is still underway. You can file a Dismissal form without your spouse’s signature if you filed a complaint for divorce and your spouse didn’t respond or file a motion in the case. You can only file a dismissal if both you and your spouse sign it; otherwise, your spouse will have already filed an answer or motion in the case.
In summary, you have several paths to ending your marriage, you could settle your divorce in one of the following ways:
[1] If your spouse doesn’t submit an answer or take part in the case, a default judgment will be rendered.
[2] Through negotiated agreement, in which you and your spouse jointly determine the terms.
[3] Through a mediated settlement, in which you and your spouse consult with a mediator and make the arrangements
[4] Due to your inability to negotiate a compromise with your husband, a court will decide the case through a trial.
You can ask the court to sign a proposed Judgment of Divorce after a default, an agreement, or a trial. You and your ex-spouse will be required to follow the court’s orders regarding child custody, parenting time, child support, spousal support (alimony), and the distribution of your marital assets and debts once the judgment dissolves your union.
The Uncontested Divorce
You and your spouse must concur on all divorce-related matters in order to get an uncontested divorce. This covers potentially contentious problems like visitation and custody of your children, alimony, child support, the division of your marital assets and debts, tax matters, and any other matter relating to your marriage.
When you can resolve a dispute on your own, you frequently save money and time by avoiding the need for attorneys, traveling to court, and giving up control of the decision-making process.
Both spouses should already agree and collaborate on the following:
[1] Child custody.
[2] Parenting time.
[3] Child support.
[4] Spousal Support.
[5] Property division.
Always remember that if you don’t agree on any of the above, the court takes over. You won’t have much to say about the outcomes as the divorce process progresses. Do your due diligence because there are guidelines for each. Go through those guidelines together and find your common grounds. Your respective attorneys are all too familiar with the guidelines for each.
Put special focus on child custody, parenting time, and child support because there are a lot of things the court considers non negotiables. Check the guidelines on the best interests of the child and the established custodial environment (ECE). Instead of finding a work around, collaborate to ensure you can sustain them.
It will really take a savvy family law and divorce attorney to walk you through every phase of the divorce process, especially the most contentious processes such as spousal and child support, child custody, property division, and parenting time. Your attorney must see the divorce from both sides and come up with equitable agreements so contentions can be resolved out of court.
Using Michigan’s streamlined process known as a “summary proceeding for entry of consent judgment” allows you to file the divorce papers jointly with your spouse and skip some of the steps involved in the usual process of initiating a divorce case. This procedure is the easiest way to get an uncontested divorce when you and your spouse have a settlement agreement and are working together.
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Goldman & Associates Law Firm is here to with information about Child Custody and Divorce in the State of Michigan.