Most people readily recognize that divorce is a lot easier when the parties are able to get together and agree on things without involving a judge. Unfortunately, not only do some couples struggle with agreeing on issues, some disagree on the overall question of divorce entirely. Read on to find out what might happen when one spouse refuses to accept an impending divorce.

Your Spouse Gets Served With Divorce Papers

For cooperative spouses, things are less dramatic—they simply hand their spouse the paperwork and wait for their signature. In the case of an uncooperative party, things should be done strictly by the book. That means your divorce attorney will use a certified process server to personally hand the divorce papers over to your spouse. It's very important that you know your spouse was in receipt of the documents because it could become an issue later on (more below on that). Regardless of your spouse's avoidance of the divorce issue, it's vital that they are informed of your intentions to be divorced.

The Divorce Settlement Agreement

The above term represents the goal of every divorce. The final settlement agreement is a listing of every issue, from child custody and child support to spousal support, property, and debt responsibilities. In nearly all divorces, the settlement comes about as a result of talks, arguments, negotiations, mediation, and sometimes, court. If your spouse fails to respond to the divorce paperwork within a certain period of time, however, you have every chance of having the divorce granted to you on the basis of the initial paperwork. In other words, you are awarded whatever you asked for in the original petition if your spouse does not object to anything. In the event that your spouse later appears and claimed that they had no knowledge of the impending divorce, you must be able to prove you made an effort to locate and serve them the papers.

Default Divorces and Uncontested Divorces

There is a bit of overlap in the above terms that is dependent upon state law. A default divorce is granted when the other party fails to respond. An uncontested divorce is when the other spouse agrees with all aspects of the divorce as filed. With a default divorce, you might have to endure a waiting period when the other spouse fails to respond before the divorce is granted. With states that allow an uncontested divorce to proceed, a missing spouse is considered an agreeable spouse and no waiting period is imposed.

Discuss this issue with a divorce attorney like Karen Robins Carnegie PLC.