What You Need To Know About Divorce in Utah?
What You Need To Know About Divorce in Utah?
We are a general practice law firm serving Utah and Salt Lake counties. We firmly believe that everyone deserves the best legal services available and we stand by that on a daily basis. Casey Hoyer is without a doubt one of the best attorneys that you will ever meet. Our practice specialties include criminal defense, DUI, divorce, custody modification, juvenile, auto accident and personal injury.
We are a general practice law firm serving Utah and Salt Lake counties. We firmly believe that everyone deserves the best legal services available and we stand by that on a daily basis. Casey Hoyer is without a doubt one of the best attorneys that you will ever meet. Our practice specialties include criminal defense, DUI, divorce, custody modification, juvenile, auto accident and personal injury.
No married couple wants to have a divorce. They would live together in as much as possible for the kids and to avoid the hassle of filing the legal requirements. However, there comes a time when the two of you cannot reconcile the difference or just grew apart to the extent you would not want to be together anymore. That is where the necessity of divorce becomes important.
About 1 out of 3 marriages in the US ends up with a divorce. The figures become worse after 20 years, as more than half of marriages fall apart. If divorce is the only solution you see in your marriage, finding the right divorce lawyers in Utah will guide you to these steps
The Requirements
To have a divorce in Utah, you must have resided in the state for at least 3 months. It does not matter if you are still together by then as long as either one of you has lived there to comply with the residential requirement. However, if you have minor children, the requirement extends to a 6-month residency prior to filing the petition for divorce. Utah grants divorce based on fault-based grounds, although it also allows irreconcilable differences as a reason.
Consulting an Attorney
Trust us. Unless you do not have a child or there is not much property involved with the divorce, you should hire a Utah divorce attorney. The attorney will serve as your representative in all the aspects of the divorce, giving you legal advice to resolve issues that arise in the divorce. You will be sharing a lot of private information with them during the process, so it is important to pick one that empathizes with your concerns.
Discussing the Goals with your Attorney
What do you want to happen once the divorce is finalized? Your attorney will then discuss the pertinent provisions of divorce laws in Utah, and what the general rules as regards to alimony, child custody and support and property division. While no attorney can guarantee 100% that you reach your goals in the divorce, a good Utah divorce attorney is capable of creating a strategy that works in your favor.
You will also be providing your personal information to your attorney. Unless you filed for an uncontested divorce, couples filing the same are required to fill up a declaration of their financial condition. The sooner this is filed to the courts, the better the chance your attorney can make a realistic assessment for the case.
Filing the Divorce
The divorce documents in Utah are initially prepared online and their system is programmed in a way you can fill up the forms with ease. Then you need to sign these forms in the presence of a notary public. Your Utah divorce attorney usually do the task in your stead especially in filing these divorce documents. They will provide the necessary information to the courts.
Once the court receives the documents, the petition is then served to your spouse. In most cases, the spouse is given at most 21 days to answer. If in case you are the one served with a petition for divorce, entrust your Utah divorce attorney to file a counter-petition for divorce. This serves as a response to the original petition and lists the parts you agree or disagree with your spouse’s request for the child custody and property division.
Most divorces in Utah have counter-petitions filed. It is the way you respond to the court about your wants in the divorce.
Discovery and Mediation
In the discovery phase, the divorce lawyers in Utah will examine what the financial information each one of you provided. This helps both of you to know that money and property that you are not previously aware of. Then your attorney helps you find the information crucial to your case.
Trials are long and expensive, so the Utah courts require the divorcees to attend a mediation. There, your Utah divorce attorney negotiates to the other party in the hopes of a settlement before the case is brought to the court. This happens after the discovery of everything you need to know about the case. If the mediation is successful, there is no need to go to trials. Otherwise, you will have to undergo court hearings at least one year after the petition is filed.
We Can Help You!
Divorce is an exhausting phase in one’s life. Let Hoyer Law Firm serve as your Utah divorce attorney and we will see the process until the end.