Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Divorce

I am filing my own divorce using an online service(Divorce Source) which provided all the forms I would need. I live in the state of Pennsylvania. I took the paper work to the local courthouse and filed the Petition for Divorce in the Prothonatary's office and was given a receipt and docket number. When I asked them what I needed to do next, I was told to go to the Law Library to find out by reading books. I filed the papers on March 15, 2007. Can you tell me, based on the laws in PA what needs to be done and/or filed next? Must I wait 90 days from the initial day of filing? My husband and I have been seperated since July of 2006 and there is no property, accounts,etc...that we are fighting over. We just want the divorce as quickly as possible.


Asked on 5/02/07, 2:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Davidson Law Office of John A. Davidson

Re: Divorce

First what you should have done is serve our soon to be ex. with the divorce complaint. According to the Pa. rules of Civil Procedure you need to send a time stamped copy of the complaint and mail it to him via certified mail with a return receipt and the delivery needs to be restricted. That will run you $9.21. You need to mail a second copy regular mail. Once you get the green card back you need to file it with the prothonotary. You need to do that with in 10 days of filing the original complaint. If you didn't you will need to reinstate the complaint and start over with service.

What happens next depends on the grounds you charged in your divorce complaint.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me, the initial consultation is free.

{John}

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Answered on 5/02/07, 4:18 pm


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