1. Is there any additional or hidden
fee that I will have to pay to finish my divorce?
2. What are some examples of what
can cause additional fees to be incurred?
3. How long will the divorce take?
4. Do I have to live in Pennsylvania
to get a Pennsylvania divorce?
5. Does my divorce have to be file
in the county where my spouse or I live in?
6. Can I still be living at the same
address as my spouse and still file for a divorce?
7. Does my spouse have to sign any
papers for the divorce to be granted?
8. Can you represent my spouse and I
in the divorce?
9. My spouse and I have a notarized agreement we drew up
dividing our property. Is that valid?
10. There any reason that I should not
use your services for my divorce?
11. Will
my divorce be in the newspapers?
12. Can I
change my last name back to my maiden name?
13. What if my spouse decides to
contest the divorce after you start it?
14. What if my spouse refuses to
sign the paper's for a mutual consent divorce?
15. Can I date while waiting for
the divorce?
16. Can I make plans to get married
again while waiting for the divorce to be finalized?
17. How
soon after I get a divorce decree can I remarry?
18. What
exactly is the procedure for my divorce?
19.
What if my spouse is in prison? Can I still get a
divorce?
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1. Is there any additional or
hidden fee that I will have to pay to finish my divorce? |
|
No. The total fee for your divorce including court costs
is $325.00. This is a full service divorce. There is no
hidden cost or fee. If every thing goes smoothly, you
will not pay any other cost. This divorce service is for
individuals that simply need a divorce and both parties
are going to cooperate fully to achieve the granting of
a divorce decree. |
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2. What are some examples of what can cause
additional fees to be incurred? |
Examples of the main reasons why you may incur
additional fees are:
1. Your spouse does not sign for the
certified mail. Someone else in the resident does.
2. Your spouse does not pick up his
or her certified mail.
3. Your spouse does not sign the
required documents in a mutual consent divorce.
4. Your spouse files a paper with the
court objecting to the divorce or raising economic
issues.
These are the more common causes, but not the only
causes, for additional fees and delays in the divorce
process. |
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3. How long will the divorce take? |
A mutual consent no-fault divorce usually takes about
five to six months to complete depending on how long it
takes to get the complaint served on your spouse and the
backlog of cases at the court. The main cause for this
much delay is that, by law, we have to wait out a 90 day
"cooling-off" period after the complaint is filed before
the process can be finalized. Please note that the
divorce is not automatically granted after the 90 days.
Additional paperwork must be prepared after that period
to get the divorce granted.
A “separation” divorce usually takes from
45 to 60 days
to be granted provided we have the full cooperation of
your spouse. |
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4. Do I have to live in Pennsylvania to get a
Pennsylvania divorce? |
|
Maybe. Your or your spouse must live in Pennsylvania. If
your spouse does not live in Pennsylvania then you must
live in PA. If your spouse lives in Pennsylvania, you
can live anywhere and still file. (I’ve represented
clients living in other countries and in almost every
state of the Union.) If you moved out of Pennsylvania
within the last six months before the filing of the
divorce, you can file a Pennsylvania divorce.
[Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Annotated; Title 23,
Section 3104] |
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5. Does my divorce have to be file in the
county where my spouse or I live in? |
|
No. Pennsylvania law does not mandate that a divorce be
file in any specific county. Your divorce will be filed
in Cameron County, Pennsylvania. Why in Cameron County?
Well, not only is it one of the most beautiful parts of
Pennsylvania but it just happens to be the PA county
with the lowest filing court fee. (And the nicest people
in the world work at the courthouse there.) I simply pass the
savings on to my clients. |
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6. Can I still be living at the same address
as my spouse and still file for a divorce? |
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Yes. I’ve divorced many couples still living together. A
husband and wife can be “separated” as a couple and be
under the same roof. Separation for legal
purposes generally means that one spouse conveys the
intent to the other that he or she no longer desires to
remain married.
Pennsylvania
case law suggests that separation can be determined by
many factors including sexual intimacy (the last time
you had sex) and other acts or
evidence showing separation such as filing a divorce
complaint. |
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7.
Does my spouse have to sign any papers for the divorce
to be granted? |
To get a divorce in Cameron County, the answer is yes. In both
cases, your spouse must sign for their certified mail or
an "Acceptance of Service" form so
I can prove to the court that they were served with the
complaint. If you are filing a mutual consent divorce,
then both parties must sign some papers after the 90 day
waiting period so I can then file them with the court.
These papers indicate that both parties want this
divorce to be granted.
If you are filing a “separation” no-fault divorce, then
you spouse needs to sign a "Waiver of Notice" form to
speed up the time to get divorce or a "Waiver of Venue"
form allowing a divorce in Cameron County to be granted
by the court there.
There is a way to get a divorce in Pennsylvania without
your spouse signing anything but the divorce need to be
done in the county in PA where you or your spouse
reside. Please call me to discuss this type of divorce
to see if I can possibly do this divorce for you. |
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8. Can you represent my spouse
and I in the divorce? |
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No. I can only represent one of you in the divorce. I
can prepare the divorce papers and a
Marriage Settlement Agreement,
if you choose that additional service, and present them
to your spouse. However, I can not, and will not,
counsel your spouse on any issue regarding the divorce. |
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9. My spouse and I have a
notarized agreement we drew up dividing our property.
Is that valid? |
|
Without seeing it, I cannot say if it is valid. In
some cases, it may be valid but without teeth to enforce
in court if necessary. As an additional service, I
can take your agreement and prepare a valid
Marriage
Settlement Agreement. This agreement will be filed
with the court and will be contract between you and your
spouse that will be enforceable anywhere in the United
States. Go to my "Marriage Agreement" page for more
information. |
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10. Is there any reason that I
should not use your services for my divorce? |
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Yes. If there is any chance that your spouse will
contest the divorce, then you should seek local counsel
to help you. The divorce service that I offer is
only for those situations where both parties desire to
get divorced and will not contest or resist the divorce
in any way. |
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11. Will my divorce be in the
newspapers. |
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No. This divorce is filed in Cameron County and
does not get published in a newspaper. It is
however, public information available to anyone who
looks in the court records of Cameron County. |
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12. Can I change my last name
back to my maiden name? |
|
Yes. Once the divorce is granted, you can get you
name changed back to your previous last name or an
earlier last name. I can prepare the papers to be
filed in court for you have the name change done for an
additional fee. Click here
for information on the process. |
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13. What if my spouse decides to
contest the divorce after you start it? |
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If that happens, I will wait to hear from your spouse's
attorney. We may be able to reach an agreement and
keep the divorce in the county filed. Additional
fees will apply in such a situation. If your spouse's
attorney decides to challenge the case because of the
county it was filed in, you will have to seek local
counsel and I will not be able to finish the case.
Remember, my services are only for situation where such
a scenario will not occur. This is a strict
requirement of my representation. |
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14. What if my spouse refuses to
sign the paper's for a mutual consent divorce? |
| Again,
full cooperation from both parties is essential for your
case. If your spouse does not cooperate, then the case
is on hold until such time as they change their mind. You can also move the case to your
county and take the steps necessary to finalize the
case. |
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15. Can I date while waiting for
the divorce? |
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Nothing in the law prohibits you from dating other
people while the divorce is in process. However,
my experience has been that it may be a good idea to
wait until the divorce is granted. Some spouses
have a hard time dealing with someone else in the
picture and I've seen many spouses suddenly retract
their cooperation and contest the divorce because the
other is dating. |
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16. Can I make plans to get
married again while waiting for the divorce to be
finalized? |
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At your owe peril. I recommend that, no matter how
desperate or in a hurry you are to remarry, do not make
any plans until you have a divorce decree in your hands.
Different problems (like upset spouses) can cause a
significant delay in the granting of the divorce decree. |
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17. How soon after I get a
divorce decree can I remarry? |
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Immediately. How's that for a great answer. |
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18. What exactly is the
procedure for my divorce? |
| I've prepared a full explanation of the procedure for
each kind of divorce service I offer. Go to the
"Divorce Services" web page in
this site to learn all about it. |
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19.
What if my spouse is in prison? Can I still get a
divorce.? |
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If your spouse is in prison, I can still get the divorce
done if he or she is willing to sign all the documents
required to finalize a divorce. The problem is
that your spouse would likely not be permitted by the
prison authorities to sign for the certified mail I
would send. (Prisoners do get the mail, they just can't
sign the green certified mail card the I get back.)
I would therefore have to include a document that your
spouse would need to sign and return to me. If
they do that, the divorce process goes on as normal.
If not, there would be additional fees because we would
have to serve your spouse by personal service using a
constable or other person that can enter the prison. |
CARDENAS LAW FIRM, P.C. 
