How can you file for your own Divorce?

You can file for your own Divorce by filing a Divorce Complaint or other necessary form that begins Divorce proceedings. You may also need to file a Summons or related form to inform your spouse that you are filing for Divorce against them and that they may need to defend themselves in Court. You must also fill out the appropriate forms for property division, child custody, child support, and other topics if they are necessary for your Divorce case.

It is a good idea to get divorced without a lawyer if both you and your spouse agree about all important issues in the marriage. Important issues include how property will be split between you and your spouse, who gets custody of any children in the marriage, as well as if there are any alimony or child support payments that are to be made after the Divorce is finalized. You and your spouse also should agree about when the children in the marriage can be visited by the other spouse, if applicable. You should also research the Divorce laws for your state and make sure to follow them to the letter. Another source you can use is your county clerk. They may have some information that you need to be able to file for Divorce or may point you to valuable resources that can help with Divorce proceedings.

Paralegals are another good source and can give you questionnaires that are important for figuring out exactly what forms you need to file. You can also hire a reliable paralegal to prepare Divorce forms for you and to file forms with the court. Paralegals work for legal document preparation businesses and you can easily check to see if a legal document preparation (LDP) company is going to be reliable by checking out reviews online. Also if you need help finding an LDP just type " legal document preparation company" into your search engine. An example would for the state of California would be "California legal document preparation company" into Google, Bing or whatever search engine you prefer.

Times when you SHOULD hire a lawyer include if you believe your spouse is hiding money from you. This means you have good reason to believe your spouse is hiding money or taking money out of any joint bank accounts or other accounts you two share. You should also hire a lawyer if you think your spouse is likely to harm you or your children or has done so in the past.