What happens after the divorce papers are filed and served?
After you have filed for divorce and served your spouse with the papers, your spouse has thirty days to file papers to fight (contest) the divorce. If, after thirty days from the date your spouse was served with the papers, he or she does not file papers to contest the divorce, you will be able to get a final divorce judgment in approximately two months. If a lawyer is handling the divorce, the lawyer will file the papers so that you can get the final judgment. If you are handling your own divorce, the instructions will tell you what papers you need to file and when you need to file them. If you are filing for temporary orders, such as custody and child support, or if your spouse files a response to fight about issues in the divorce, you may need to have court hearings. If this happens, it could take much longer than three months to get the final divorce judgment. If your spouse gets an attorney, you will probably need one, too.
