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?
|
|
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 $350.00. 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. |
|
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. |
|
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? |
|
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? |
| 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? |
| 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. |
|
11. Will my divorce be in the
newspapers. |
| 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. |
|
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? |
| 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. |
|
15. Can I date while waiting for the
divorce? |
| 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? |
|
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? |
|
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.? |
| 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. |
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