An uncontested divorce is a great way to do the divorce process.
In an uncontested divorce, both the parties have already decided how they’re going to divvy up their assets and debts.
If there’s going to be alimony, they’ve already decided on the amount and the payment schedule.
And if there are kids, they’ve already decided on where their kids are going to spend their nights and how decisions are going to be made.
How Can An Attorney Help In An Uncontested Divorce?
In an uncontested divorce, the attorney helps by doing the following:
The attorney drafts all of the documents required to execute the wishes of the parties.
The attorney adds his or her knowledge to make a well-drafted document to help the parties effectuate what their intent is and also to help make sure that they don’t run into any roadblocks later. And to make sure it’s strong and it’s secure and there just aren’t going to be any issues with the judge having a hard time with it.
The attorney also is responsible for making sure everything gets signed on the dotted line.
The attorney then files a case with the court that basically says, “Listen, this is a divorce, but it’s uncontested. Everybody’s worked everything out. So, we just need a little bit of your time.”
And then the attorney will take at least one of the parties, and sometimes both of the parties, to court for a final hearing to get the judge to ratify things and make it all official.
The attorney also makes sure that if there are any quitclaim deeds or other documents that convey different property from one spouse to another, that they all get tied up so that everything’s done.
What An Attorney Does Not Do In An Uncontested Divorce
What an attorney doesn’t do in an uncontested divorce is negotiate terms between the parties.
What makes it uncontested is that the parties have already pre-negotiated the disposition of all their assets and how things are going to work out.
A related concept to an uncontested divorce is an amicable divorce. That’s where the parties have agreed that they are going to work together to do the right things and they both have agreed that they want to get a fair shake and make sure things are square between them — but they haven’t actually negotiated how things are going to be distributed or if there’s alimony, what the amount is going to be.
What Are The Requirements For An Uncontested Divorce?
So, the requirements for an uncontested divorce are pretty straightforward. All of the agreed upon terms and conditions between the parties are boiled down by the attorney into a settlement agreement.
If there are kids, that’s all boiled down into a Parenting Plan, which is a required document by the Florida Supreme Court, which makes sure that we’re spelling out where the kids are spending their nights, how decisions are going to be made, how transportation is supposed to be effectuated, how medical costs not covered by insurance will be covered, and that sort of thing.
There’s going to be a petition that’s filed with the court. So, it is filing a lawsuit, because there’s still an old school way of doing things in Florida — but the good news is we get to put in the petition, “Hey judge, everything’s worked out. Let’s make sure we keep everybody’s records out of the system as much as possible and let’s seal this thing up if we can.”
Wrapping Up An Uncontested Divorce In Florida
There needs to be a court hearing with almost all judges in Florida, but it’s a very quick court hearing. It’s just to make sure that everything is square and to make sure that at least one of the parties is a resident of Florida because the courts don’t want somebody coming down from Georgia getting divorced in Florida because they like the laws better.
The major benefit of an uncontested divorce is its speed and how it dials down the emotions. As far as the speed, you can get these things done pretty much as quickly as you want. We’ve had people come in on a Thursday morning and we’ve had agreements signed by Thursday afternoon or Friday morning and cases filed an hour after that. And we’ve had final hearings with the judge within three or four weeks. So, you can get things done and wrapped up quickly.
And emotional control is a huge benefit. There’s nothing worse than being in limbo and not knowing how things are going to work out. With an uncontested divorce, you know exactly how things are going to work out.
