Legal Question in Family Law in California

Re: My fiancee's divorce

after serving your petition and summons, the respondent needs to file a response. you are never required to hire an attorney.

Re: My fiancee's divorce

Thanks for your question. Once the Proof of Service of Summons is filed, the Respondent has 30 days to file the Response. If no Response is filed, the Petitioner can ask for the Respondent's default to be taken. There is a procedure for that. If the Respondent files a Response, then any Order to Show Causes need to be filed, and the Disclosures need to be filled out and served. Then if you agree on the terms, the parties can file a Stipulated Judgment. However, there are a number of forms that must be prepared, you should check with the Family Law Facilitators office in your county.

Re: My fiancee's divorce

The answer depends on whether you filed and served the petition properly. Did you include a blank response (FL-120) when you served the petition? Your local rules may also require addition documents to be included with the summons.

Assuming you have done everything properly up to now, you may not have to do anything else for a while. You only have to go to court if there are contested issues. You do not need a lawyer to go to court, but it helps.

You will probably need to negotiate and draft a marital settlement agreement with your wife. Once you have both signed the MSA you can ask the court to enter it as a judgment so that it will become binding.

Remember that simply filing for divorce does not make you divorced. Even if your divorce is uncontested you will need to complete some more paperwork once the statutory waiting period of 6 months has passed. The self-help center at your court can help you if you do not want to hire an attorney.

Good luck.