Waiting periods. What exactly are waiting periods? Some individuals believe that a waiting period is the time you must put in before you may file for divorce or visit the court. Some individuals consider it to be a time of separation. Separating before filing for divorce is required. There are periods that are relevant. They have been referred to as waiting periods. They are periods that must pass before specific events can occur. This is called the Michigan divorce waiting period.
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There is a six-month waiting period after a divorce for children. That does not imply that you must wait six months to apply for divorce. This means that for divorce cases involving children, the court will spread out the case’s lifecycle across a six-month period. Six months have passed between the time you began the case and the time you are prepared to wrap it up. A case without children has a substantially shorter life span. It only takes sixty days instead of six months to wait. You will be given sixty days to conclude your case before it is closed. Sometimes the six-month waiting period might be shortened. It is negotiable. Regarding residence, there is yet an additional waiting period to be considered. It is not a holding pattern. It is more of a legislative eligibility period. It more closely relates to jurisdictional requirements.
What are these waiting periods?
Michigan law says all divorcing couples must wait before a divorce can be granted. The moment the divorce complaint is filed, the clock begins to run. Therefore, until the waiting period has passed, a judge cannot grant you a divorce order. This is regardless of how swiftly you can resolve your divorce-related concerns. There is a 60-day waiting period if you are childless.
Jurisdictional requirement
People must take into account a waiting period before deciding on residency. There isn’t really a waiting period. It is more of a prequalifying eligibility period. It more closely relates to jurisdictional requirements. Couples must satisfy Michigan’s residency requirements before the divorce process can be started. Either you or your spouse must have resided in Michigan for the previous 180 days before your filing. You may be a couple not blessed with minor children. You or your spouse must have spent the preceding 10 days living in the county where you’re filing. You file and deliver the complaint and summons.
The defendant has 21 days to file a response of admission or denial of each charge in the complaint. That can be 28 days if served by mail or outside the state. Nearly half of your waiting period should have passed by the time you were given to answer. The matter becomes contested once the necessary response has been provided. The defendant’s failure to provide an answer may result in the issuance of an order of default. After that, the case becomes an uncontested divorce. A defendant who has defaulted may decide to retain legal counsel. The defendant can request the court’s intervention at any time up to the case’s conclusion.
Divorce with minor children
There can be a six-month waiting period if there are young children involved in the divorce. The Michigan court system is under a lot of pressure to decide divorce cases within a year of the filing date. The “normal” waiting period once the complaint is filed is six months for a divorce involving children. The majority of child custody trials last longer than six months. They are sometimes concluded in less time than a year. There are exceptions to the six-month waiting period.
According to Michigan law, a judge may waive the six-month waiting period but not the sixty-day one. In instances of “unusual hardship or such compelling necessity as shall appeal to the conscience of the court,” the six-month waiting period may be extended. Remember it is never fewer than sixty days. The majority of judges will waive the six-month waiting time if there is a good reason.
Especially if they are informed that the case is a collaborative divorce. Collaborative divorce is an alternative to the normal divorce process. It avoids the drawn-out legal battles that characterize normal divorce litigation. In a collaborative divorce, parties consent to end their marriage outside of court. They achieve this by working with certified specialists.
Divorce without minor children
If there are no children involved in the divorce in Michigan, the waiting period is 60 days. If the judgment is issued in fewer than sixty days, the divorce is most certainly void. Under Michigan law, a judge may waive the six-month waiting period, but not the sixty-day one. The six-month waiting period may be extended. These are for circumstances of “exceptional hardship or such compelling necessity as shall appeal to the conscience of the court.”
But, still never to less than sixty days. The other party has a certain amount of time to reply after the complaint is filed. You can also factor in the amount of time spent on important procedures. These procedures are discovery and agreements. This also includes the issuing of temporary orders before the initial court appearance. The initial steps of the process already take up the entire 60-day waiting period.
Although the waiting period can be annoying, it helps to keep in mind that it is necessary. The waiting period’s goal is to give couples time to reevaluate their decision to divorce and ensure that they are acting in their best interests and the interests of their children. You and your husband might be able to settle a few divorce-related matters, such as child custody and property split, while you’re waiting. Once the waiting period is finished, this can aid in speeding up the procedure.
What’s the rationale behind a divorce waiting period?
Michigan Compiled Laws or MCL, says there must be a waiting period before getting a divorce. The MCL allows for a divorce in Michigan without a minor child. It can’t grant it until 60 days after the bill of complaint was filed. A divorce in Michigan involving a minor child (under the age of 18) cannot be finalized. It can’t “until the 6 months pass from the day the bill of complaint is filed.” Michigan has a statutory waiting time of 60 days for divorces with no minor children.
A waiting period of 6 months for divorces involving minor children. The state has made it a priority to defend the family unit and the institution of marriage as much as possible, ultimately acting in the best interests of the children. There are numerous crucial moments that might occur while waiting. What is all this waiting for now?
It’s time for second chances
An intense argument may be followed by a hasty and enraged divorce filing. Combative partners are given some time to cool off. Determine if this is actually what they want during the waiting period. Couples may start discussing their problems in a fresh way once a divorce case has been filed in court. It jolts the party to the impending reality of separation. The divorcing spouse can also decide that living alone is not what they had envisioned. At least not after leaving the home. While waiting, the couple has time to think about a potential reconciliation.
Preparing for parenting after divorce
A new living circumstance calls for a different approach to visits, daycare, and educational systems. As they learn to co-parent in different homes, parents may decide that making amends and giving their marriage another chance is preferable to ending it. The court will decide who gets to retain the child if the parents are unable to reach an agreement, thus there will need to be a trial where both parties will submit their evidence. Prior to trial, the judge may ask a custody investigator with specialized skills to assess each parent’s ability to care for the children. A custody agreement’s “best interests of the child” as defined by the Child Custody Act may not be determined for several months.
Getting through your financial maze
Very few people actually come out of divorce financially better than they would have if they had remained married. As one family becomes two households, the couple’s expenses nearly quadruple compared to when they were living together. Due to the fact that married couples typically combine their finances, it may take some time to get all the necessary documentation, total everything up, and establish how to efficiently separate one person’s debts and assets from the other’s. Checking accounts, investment accounts, insurance policies, bank loans, and credit cards are just a few examples. For tangible assets, such as real estate, vehicles, and other items, an appraisal is necessary.
One or both partners must find new housing. The parties in a high-asset divorce might need to hire professionals to conduct asset discovery and valuation. There will be retirement or pension to think about for people with a sizable amount of job experience. If either party has retirement benefits in the form of a traditionally classified pension plan, 401K, or other type of retirement plan, federal law requires a separate document known as a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) or Eligible Domestic Relations Order (EDRO) when there is a government pension. These documents are typically added after the divorce decree has been issued.
Each pension plan administrator has their own terminology that they demand in a QDRO or EDRO, making it challenging to get the parties to agree on specific language and have it validated by the plan administrator. A QDRO specialist is frequently consulted by Michigan divorce lawyers while drafting these papers.
Time to lay out the settlement
Michigan courts normally schedule the initial divorce hearing for couples without children at least 60 days after the divorce complaint is filed. Couples with few disagreements can frequently agree on the terms of their divorce before the first court hearing. The divorce can then be officially finalized at that first hearing after the required 60-day waiting period has passed. The parties have at least had time to define their differences of opinion, estimate how much additional time will be needed to reach a resolution, and contemplate whether a mediator could be required if a settlement cannot be reached by the first court date.
Making hasty judgments is not good. At least not in the last stages of a divorce without the aid of an attorney. It is too serious of a subject. You will have to live with the effects of your divorce. You only have one chance to get it right. Too much is at stake for you to not have an experienced attorney on your side.
What is your divorce timeline after the complaint is filed?
Earlier we mentioned that you have to wait out at least 60 days before you can get your divorce judgment. It is not just a result of the procedural mandate, it is also because of the timelines in the divorce process. The process of divorce in Michigan would have consumed more or less those number of days at least. This is from filing the complaint to getting your judgment of divorce. Let’s revisit this process. You can appreciate why you can negotiate with the judge for six months. Not the sixty-day waiting period.
The first step is to submit a divorce complaint
The complaint outlines the fundamental information about the parties. It contains their names, the names of their minor children, and the dates of their marriage. Information about separation if separated before the filing of the complaint. It is also in that complaint where the plaintiff will claim that their marriage has broken down. The complaint must attest to the party’s 180 days of residence in Michigan. Of course, it includes their ten days of residence in the county where the complaint is being filed. You must initial the divorce complaint. You will also need to sign a Verified Statement in a divorce when there are minor children involved. The parties’ names, residences, employment information, and health insurance details for the minor children are all included in the Verified Statement, which is sent to the Friend of the Court.
Ex Parte Orders in addition to the Complaint
Ex Parte Orders are decisions made by the court based only on the claims made by the complaining spouse. Only if the defendant doesn’t submit objections within 14 days do the orders continue to be in place. Ex Parte Orders are used to determine temporary child support, parenting time, child custody, and other concerns involving the children. Ex Parte Orders may also be used to compel the parties to continue making contributions to the upkeep of the marital residence. It can be issued to stop spouses from wasting assets.
The spouse must be served with the Complaint for Divorce and any Ex Parte Orders after they are filed
An “Acknowledgement of Service” can be signed by the spouse, or the complaint can be delivered to the spouse by a process server. We advise our clients to get their spouse to sign an Acknowledgement of Service if the divorce is amicable. We prefer to utilize this way only when a spouse is uncooperative or the situation is not amicable because having divorce papers served by a process server can commonly be perceived as a hostile act.
Under special programs, minor children are to appear at the Friend of the Court
For an Early Intervention Conference (EIC), the parties must first meet before a Friend of the Court Referee. The EIC’s goal is to give the parties a summary of the Friend of the Court. The Referee may attempt to resolve any temporary difficulties that are unsolved and concern the minor children. The parties will go to a SMILE program session after the EIC is finished. Start Making It Livable for Everyone, or SMILE is a program created to help parents lessen the effects of divorce on their children. In SMILE, an FOC counselor offers helpful suggestions for roughly 45 minutes before the participants watch a brief film of children whose parents underwent similar experiences.
The phase for discovery
The courts in Michigan demand full asset disclosure from both parties throughout divorce proceedings. In most cases, this is done by interrogatories, which are written inquiries, or depositions, which are meetings when the attorneys can question the parties directly. Subpoenas can also be used by the parties to demand financial information from banks or investment organizations as well as wage and pension data from employers. Experts may also be hired at this time to evaluate real estate, the worth of a family business, or other priceless assets. According to Michigan divorce law, even if an asset is discovered after the judgment, the judge may award the entire asset to the opposite party if one side willfully fails to declare it. The parties will endeavor to achieve a settlement during and following Discovery. The judge will appoint a mediator to assist the parties in reaching a settlement if one cannot be reached.
Drafting the divorce judgment
Following the parties’ agreement, the lawyers will produce a divorce judgment that includes all of the terms that were negotiated. One of the parties will be expected to appear in court for a brief hearing when they will testify regarding the divorce’s claims and the judgment’s provisions. The parties become legally divorced as soon as the judge signs the divorce judgment.
The waiting period starts after the court receives the complaint. The judge cannot validate the divorce until the waiting period has passed, even if you and your spouse are friendly and have no trouble settling the pertinent matters. Until the waiting time has passed and a hearing has been scheduled, all decisions involving child custody, property distribution, and spousal support will be kept on hold. Except in specific limited circumstances, the waiting period cannot be changed.
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