Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

Re: How to bifercate a marrige

The correct spelling of the word is bifurcate and it means to break something into parts. In the context of family law and divorce some people break the divorce into parts and complete the divorce first and divide the property later. Thus, to bifurcate you simply file a motion asking the court to do the part you want to do first and then ask the court to reserve or preserve ruling on the other part that you don't want to finish at the present time. (Whether the Court grants your motion or not is a different matter than simply filing and asking for it).

There is no ONE place to go and get a form or copy such a motion. This is one of those things that attorneys know how to do. However, there are plenty of attorneys - perhaps you'd have better luck in Roswell (there's just more of them there) who could easily draft such a motion for you or perhaps they will meet with you and assist you in the wording for you to draft the document yourself. If economics are an issue then talk to the lawyer about keeping costs to a minimum. The ethical rules allow lawyers to act as scribes and this is the capacity I am suggesting that you talk with a lawyer about. To find a lawyer look in the yellow pages and look in the 'family law' listing of the yellow pages or go to the website for the state bar of New Mexico http://www.nmbar.org and look at their lawyer referral service.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Law Guru