The first step in terminating your marriage is filing an official petition for divorce. Part of this process is serving your spouse with the divorce papers. The documents will include the grounds that you are filing with and your requests for property division, alimony, child custody, and more. But what happens if your spouse never responds? At Peter V. Mandi & Associates, our Deer Park divorce lawyers are equipped with the knowledge and experience to handle your default divorce. If your spouse doesn’t respond to the divorce papers, contact a skilled attorney for more information and legal advice.
How Long Does the Spouse Have to Respond to Divorce Papers?
Every state has different laws regarding the amount of time a spouse served with divorce papers has to file their response. In New York, a spouse who is served papers has 20 days from the date they received them to file a response. If they were served out of state the timeline may be extended to 30 days.
What Happens if the Spouse Doesn’t Respond?
Many people believe that the only way to get a divorce is by their spouse being a willing participant in the matter, but this is not the case. If your spouse doesn’t respond to the divorce papers you can proceed without them in what is known as a default divorce.
What is a Default Divorce?
If your spouse ignores the divorce papers and pretends like the proceedings aren’t happening, you can petition the court for a default judgment. In a default divorce, the court will treat the matter as if it is an uncontested divorce. The requests made in the original complaint for divorce will be granted without input from the other spouse.
While courts generally want to allow both voices to be heard in a divorce, there is only so much they can do if one spouse refuses to respond. They will not force one individual to remain in a marriage that they no longer wish to be in simply because the other party is neglecting their responsibility to answer.
If the requests that the filing spouse made in their original petition seem reasonable, a judge is likely to grant the default divorce. However, they may require additional efforts to inform the other spouse about the documents if they were not properly served.
Contact a New York Divorce Attorney
If your spouse is refusing to sign or respond to the divorce papers, do not hesitate to contact a knowledgeable lawyer at Peter V. Mandi & Associates. Our skilled lawyers can help you navigate the divorce process and work to protect your rights during this time. Default divorces can be complex so obtaining the help of a legal professional is crucial. Speak with an attorney today for more information.
