Summary Divorce

In many states, an expedited divorce procedure is available to couples who havent

been married for very long (usually five years or less), dont own much property,
dont have children, and dont have significant joint debts. Both spouses need to
agree to the divorce, and you must file court papers jointly. A summary (sometimes
called simplified) divorce involves a lot less paperwork than other types of divorce
a few forms are often all it takes. You can probably get the forms you need from the
local family court. For this reason, summary divorces are easy to do yourself,
without the help of a lawyer.
Uncontested Divorce
The best choice, if you can make it happen, is an uncontested divorce. Thats one in
which you and your spouse work together to agree on the terms of your divorce,
and file court papers cooperatively to make the divorce happen. There will be no
formal trial, and you probably wont have to ever appear in court.
Default Divorce
The court will grant a divorce by default if you file for divorce and your spouse
doesnt respond. The divorce is granted even though your spouse doesnt
participate in the court proceedings at all. A default divorce might happen, for
example, if your spouse has left for parts unknown and cant be found.
Fault and No-Fault Divorce
In the old days, someone who wanted a divorce had to show that the other spouse
was at fault for causing the marriage to break down. Now, every state offers the
option of no-fault divorce. In a no-fault divorce, instead of proving that one spouse
is to blame, you merely tell the court that you and your spouse have irreconcilable
differences or have suffered an irremediable breakdown of your relationship.
Mediated Divorce
In divorce mediation, a neutral third party, called a mediator, sits down with you
and your spouse to try to help you resolve all of the issues in your divorce. The
mediator doesnt make any decisions; thats up to you and your spouse. Instead,
the mediator helps you communicate with each other until you can come to an
agreement.
(See Divorce Mediation for more on this type of divorce process).
Collaborative Divorce
Collaborative divorce involves working with lawyers, but in a different way from the
usual expectation.You and your spouse each hire lawyers who are trained to work
cooperatively and who agree to try to settle your case. Each of you has a lawyer
who is on your side, but much of the work is done in cooperation. Each of you
agrees to disclose all the information thats necessary for fair negotiations, and to
meet with each other and both lawyers to discuss settlement. You all agree that if

your divorce doesnt settle through the collaborative process, your original
attorneys will withdraw and youll hire different attorneys to take your case to trial.
(Thinking collaboration might work for you? See Collaborative Divorce).
Arbitration
In arbitration, you and your spouse agree that youll hire a private judge, called an
arbitrator, to make the same decisions that a judge could make, and that you will
honor the arbitrators decisions as if a judge had made them.
Contested Divorce
If you and your spouse argue so much over property or child custody that you cant
come to an agreement, and instead take these issues to the judge to decide, you
have whats called a contested divorce. Youll go through a process of exchanging
information, settlement negotiations, hearings, and, if you cant resolve the case
after all that, a court trial. If this sounds like your situation, you'll want to talk to a
lawyer.
Divorce for Same-Sex Couples
Six states and the District of Columbia now allow same-sex couples to marry
Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
York, and Vermontbut theyre not the only states that allow same-sex couples to
divorce. In California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode
Island, and Washington State, same-sex couples who have registered as domestic
partners or entered into civil unions must use the same forms and procedures as
married couples to end their legal relationship.
Fault and No-Fault Divorces
All states allow some type of no-fault divorce, where the court hears a divorce case
without a determination of who is at fault for causing the divorce. Some states allow
a fault-based divorce, where the court determines who is at fault for the termination
of the marriage. In no-fault cases, the court refuses to hear issues of wrong-doing,
such as adultery, mental cruelty or spousal abuse. However, in fault cases, a court
considers these types of faults, and their negative impact on the marriage. If a
spouse commits adultery and abandons his commitment to the marriage, the court
can take these facts into consideration. Some states use a bifurcated divorce
system, where they first resolve the dissolution of the marriage and later resolve
property division and child custody issues at a separate hearing.

Contested and Uncontested Divorces

All divorce cases start off as either contested or uncontested. They can also change
from contested to uncontested during the divorce proceedings, if spouses fail to
resolve pertinent issues in the divorce. An uncontested divorce means that both

spouses agree to proceed with the divorce in a collaborative manner. In an

uncontested divorce, couples often settle unresolved issues outside of court and
submit a settlement agreement outlining their resolutions. In a contested divorce,
spouses disagree on the divorce. Spouses often disagree on fault, property division,
child custody and spousal support. If these issues can be resolved in mediation, the
case can move from a contested to an uncontested divorce case.
Summary Dissolutions and Simplified Divorces
Many states offer some form of a simplified divorce, also know as a summary
dissolution. A simplified divorce refers to less complicated divorce cases that may
be expedited through the court. These fast-tack type of divorce cases, often include
shorter marriages, with limited assets, minimal outstanding debt, no children and no
real property. Each state determines what type of marriage qualifies for a simplified
divorce. Some states consider the length of the marriage, the amount of assets and
whether the couple has any dependent children.
Default and True Default Divorces
Default cases refer to cases in which a party failed to appear before the court at a
critical hearing on the divorce. The judge often orders a default judgment in the
divorce, when one party shows up for the final hearing and the other party fails to
show. If both parties fail to show, the court potentially takes the divorce off the court
schedule without a ruling on the divorce. In default cases, the other party may have
complied with some court rules and signed a settlement agreement, but failed to
finalize the divorce. In a true default, the other party often fails to respond entirely
and never submits any documents to the court. In extreme cases, a spouse can
seek a divorce by publication, if a missing spouse can not even be found to receive
the divorce papers.
Collaborative and Mediated Divorces
Both uncontested and simplified divorces often proceed as collaborative divorces, or
mediated divorces, where both spouses work together to resolve all the issues in
the divorce before they go to court. Some lawyers and their law firms specialize in
collaborative divorces. These collaborative lawyers often use family law mediators
and private judges to arbitrate divorces outside of court. Some couples elect to use
a legal document service provider to complete their divorce paper work and
represent themselves in a collaborative divorce. Courts often provide court
mediators to help resolve child custody, visitation schedules, child support and
spousal support details.

Mediated divorce
Divorce mediation is an alternative to traditional divorce litigation. In a divorce
mediation session, a mediator facilitates the discussion between the two parties by
assisting with communication and providing information and suggestions to help
resolve differences. At the end of the mediation process, the separating parties
have typically developed a tailored divorce agreement that can be submitted to the

court. Mediation sessions can include either party's attorneys, a neutral attorney, or
an attorney-mediator who can inform both parties of their legal rights, but does not
provide advice to either, or can be conducted with the assistance of a facilitative or
transformative mediator without attorneys present at all. Some mediation
companies, such as Wevorce, also pair clients with counselors, financial planners
and other professionals to work through common mediation sticking points. Divorce
mediators may be attorneys who have experience in divorce cases, or they may be
professional mediators who are not attorneys, but who have training specifically in
the area of family court matters. Divorce mediation can be significantly less costly,
both financially and emotionally, than litigation. The adherence rate to mediated
agreements is much higher than that of adherence to court orders.
1. Divorce
A divorce (also called "dissolution of marriage" or "dissolution of domestic
partnership") ends your marriage or domestic partnership. After you get divorced,
you will be single, and you can marry or become a domestic partner again.
If you get divorced, you can ask the judge for orders like child support, spousal
support, custodyand visitation, domestic violence restraining orders, division of
property, and other orders.
2. Legal Separation
A legal separation does not end a marriage or domestic partnership. You can't marry
or enter into a partnership with someone else if you are legally separated (and not
divorced). A legal separation is for couples that do not want to get divorced but
want to live apart and decide on money, property, and parenting issues. Couples
sometimes prefer separation for religious reasons.
If you file for a legal separation, you may later be able to file an amended petition to
ask the court for a divorce.
In a legal separation case, you can ask the judge for orders like child support,
spousal support, partner support, custody and visitation, domestic violence
restraining orders, or any other orders you can get with a divorce case.
3. Annulment
An annulment (or "nullity of marriage" or "nullity of domestic partnership") is when
a court says your marriage or domestic partnership is NOT legally valid. A marriage
or domestic partnership that is incestuous or bigamous is never valid. Other
marriages and partnerships can be declared "void" because of force, fraud, or
physical or mental incapacity; one of the spouses or partners was too young to
legally marry or enter into a domestic partnership; or one of the spouses or partners
was already married or in a registered domestic partnership.
Annulments are very rare. If you ask to have your marriage or domestic partnership
annulled, you will have to go to hearing with a judge.

Philippine law, in general, does not provide for divorce inside the country, and remain the only UNmember state to do so. The only exception is with respect toMuslims, who are allowed by their
religion to divorce in certain circumstances. For the majority non-Muslims, the law only allows
for annulment of marriages.
Women's groups have clamored for legalisation of divorce, but all past attempts to ratify it into law
have failed.
Article 26 of the The Family Code of 1987 does provide that:
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a
divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to
remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.[29]
This would seem to apply only if the spouse obtaining the foreign divorce is an alien. [according to
whom?]

However, the Supreme Court of the Philippines declared in the case of RP vs. Orbecidio

[..] we are unanimous in our holding that Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code (E.O.
No. 209, as amended by E.O. No. 227), should be interpreted to allow a Filipino citizen, who
has been divorced by a spouse who had acquired foreign citizenship and remarried, also to
remarry.[30]
Complications can arise, however. For example, if a legally married Filipino citizen obtains a
divorce outside of the Philippines, that divorce would not be recognized inside the
Philippines. If that person (now unmarried outside of the Philippines) then remarries outside
of the Philippines, he or she could arguably be considered in the Philippines as having
committed the crime of bigamy under Philippine Law.[according to whom?] The above complications will
not arise if the legally married Filipino citizen obtains foreign citizenship first, then secures a
foreign divorce decree.
Also, Article 15 of the Civil Code of the Philippines provides that
Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition and legal capacity of
persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad. [31]
This can lead to complications regarding distribution of conjugal property, inheritance
rights, etc.[32][33][34] , etc.

In Article 26, paragraph 2, a number of questions can be raised with respect to the
operation of this provision, to wit:
1. Is there a need for a judicial decree in Philippine courts to declare the Filipino
spouse qualified to remarry? The Family Code has no explicit provision to that
effect, unlike in cases of void marriages and of a remarriage in case of absence
of one of the spouses amounting to presumptive death (Art. 40 and 41, Family
Code) where a court decree is required.
2. Is Art. 26, par. 2 applicable to foreign divorces obtained before the effectivity of
the Family Code in view of Art. 256?
3. What if the Filipino spouse does not intend to remarry, what is the status of any
children they may have after the divorce decree? Does the Filipino spouse have
a right to demand support from his/her former alien spouse? What is his/her
status with respect to his/her former foreign spouse? Can he/she claim share of
property or income acquired by the former foreign spouse?
The process of the divorce annulment is an expensive one; it cost about 100,000
200,000 or US$2,0004,000, which is about a year's wages for a typical Filipino.
One of the steps in the process is a psychological assessment for use or reason of
annulment. This costs an additional 10,00015,000 or US$200300.
Another step in the process is an interview with a court appointed social worker to
eliminate possible "collusion" among the parties involved especially if there are children.
Children under the age of 7 are awarded to the mother. There are no standards in child
support or support to spouse to maintain her previous standard in society.