It is true that no one ever enters into the wedlock with an expectation of it getting failed. However, more than about 20-percentage of the first marriages in the United States are found to fail within the first five years, and about 40 percent found to fail within 20-year mark as per a national survey statistics. Even though separation is always a delicate affair, you can do many things to make it the healthy.
Once if you have taken a solid decision favoring divorce, then the very next question is what to do next? When you face this for the first time in life, one needs to learn the process of divorce in depth and how it works. Individuals involved needs to navigate smoothly through the process to suffer no emotional damage or other consequence regarding custody of children, mediation, privacy issues and more.
The most significant headache you may be facing is the need to face a wide variety of confusing legal terminology, which will put you in trouble if not understood and act appropriately. This article series is aimed to offer everyday people an in-depth understanding of the processes and terminology related to divorce, and today we will discuss contested vs. uncontested divorces.
Contested divorce
Contested is one of the complicated and toughest cases of divorce in which spouses cannot agree to divorce. This ultimately ends up in a court proceeding with the need to undergo a trial with the help of divorce attorneys in Houston Texas, and the judge needs to decide this after a long trial finally.
Uncontested divorce
In case of an uncontested divorce, both come into agreement first in all related concerns including the unbiased marital property division, debts clearance, supporting child, and long-term spousal support, etc.
When it comes to uncontested divorce, each state has its laws and requirements in which the divorce is expecting couple needs to proceed further. The one who is initiating the divorce needs to contact a local divorce lawyer or check the website of the local court to understand the requirement and move accordingly.
Contested vs. Uncontested
Uncontested is more comfortable not simply because it is easier to get, but also it is less time taking when your need is actually to move with life and other responsibilities. The need for constant negotiations due to the ongoing changes in life can be avoided in case of an uncontested divorce. Overall, an uncontested divorce involves less stress and lesser legal charges.
In contested divorces; however, spouses need to go through several tedious steps before finally getting the divorce approved. These include preparing and filing the legal divorce petition, responding to it, hiring a divorce attorney, engaging in the divorce mediation, divorce discovery process, pre-trial legal hearings, settlement proposal, negotiations, going for trial if settlements fail, waiting for a court trial to complete, and appeal if the court judgment is not acceptable, etc. So, even if there are some specific legal requirements and procedures to be met, it is always better to go for an uncontested divorce if possible.