Legal Question in Family Law in New York
Contest divorce
I was served with divorce papers and the listed reasons for the divorce are not true. What must I do?
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Contest divorce
The complaint must be formally answered within 20 days (30 if you were not served personally.) If you need help with this, feel free to get in touch.
Re: Contest divorce
David's advice is a little off.
You do not write what you were served with. If you were served with a Summons and Verified Complaint, you must serve and file a Verified Answer. Form answers may be found at the Supreme Court law library (open to the public).
If you were served with a Summons with Notice, you must serve and file a Notice of Appearance and Demand for Complaint. Again, this form may be found at the Supreme Court law library.
By the way, when I say "you serve", that means that you retain a nonparty resident over 18 years to send the papers.
Of course, I recommend that you retain an attorney.
Mike.
Re: Contest divorce
You should retain an attorney to file an answer immediately.
As the Summons noted you only have a short amount of time to reply or you will lose by default.
Patricia Martin-Gibbons
Re: Contest divorce
You must answer the summons and complaint within a short period of time in order to avoid a default judgment. I would also suggest you retain an attorney to represent you to contest the issues as well as to protect all of your rights.