Divorce

Do you need legal advice for divorce? Maybe. But sometimes all you need is legal information.

If you have a simple case and just need to get divorced, then you probably do not need legal advice. You just need information on where to get the divorce forms, how to fill them, and then where to file them when you are done.

You can get this sort of legal information from books, court websites, and law firm websites like this one. However, you will not get legal advice for divorce from the internet.

In this post you will learn what legal advice is, when do you need it, where to get it, and whose legal advice you should avoid.

What is legal advice?

Advice is an opinion from someone not immediately concerned, as to what could or should be done about a problem. So legal advice is such an opinion about a legal problem.

When do you need legal advice?

You need legal advice when you have a specific legal problem, and you want to know what to do.

For instance, you want to move your kids out of state after your divorce. Would you be able to do it? This is a specific legal problem. The answer will be different for different situations.

Say you live in Baggs and want to move your kids to Denver. You may not be able to do it, because it is difficult to get to Denver from Baggs. Therefore, your move would impact the amount of time your ex will get to see the kids.

However, if you live in Rock Springs, which is much further from Denver, you might be able to make the move. Especially if you have plenty of money, and you can afford to put the kids on a plane every other weekend.

If you need help deciding what to do in your specific situation, then you need legal advice.

Where should you get legal advice for divorce?

You get legal advice from a lawyer, or maybe an experienced paralegal. (Just remember that not every person who works in a law office is a paralegal).

However, if you want legal advice for your divorce, then you should talk to a divorce lawyer.

Whose legal advice should you avoid?

You should not get legal advice from your friends who went through a divorce. Your friends are not disinterested in your situation. Your friends are your friends. They want to make you feel better. They want to share your pain with you.

The problem is that their divorce is not your divorce. Their spouse is not like your spouse. Your kids are not like their kids. Their divorce was about them, and that was their experience. They will give you advice about their situation, not yours.

You should use your friends for what a lawyer cannot give you. You should ask your friends about how to deal with the loss of a marriage, about co-parenting the kids, about dealing with the financial problems created by divorce.

Let your friends be your friends. Lean on them for emotional support. That is what good friends are good for.

By Steve Harton

 

 

 

Everyone knows a divorce is expensive. Or is it?

It is possible to get a cheap divorce in Wyoming. Maybe even a free divorce!

In this post I will explain how.

Keys to a Cheap Divorce

The key to a cheap divorce is cooperation. You and your spouse must:

• both want the divorce,
• agree on all of the terms, and
• cooperate in drafting, signing and filing the divorce papers with the court.

Believe it or not, there are divorcing couples who get along well enough to get this done.

However, without cooperation, your divorce will definitely not be free, or even cheap.

Cheap Divorce Process

Assuming you and your spouse both want to get this divorce done without drama or expense, you should take the following steps.

Get Free Divorce Papers

The Wyoming Supreme Court has prepared a packet of all the divorce forms you need, with instructions. You can download the forms for free from this site.

You can also you buy the packet from the Clerk of District Court, but they will charge you $15.

Request a Waiver of Filing Fees

You can get request the Court to waive the filing fees. If you are poor enough, the Court will waive the $110 filing fee.

The forms to request the waiver can be found here, in Packet No. 10, forms Misc. 7 and Misc. 8.

Complete the Divorce Papers

Take some time with your spouse, and fill out the forms together. Make two copies of all the forms. This will cost nothing, except the cost of copies.

File the Divorce Papers with the Court

Once you have the papers completed and copied, take them to the District Court.  File everything. This will cost nothing, if the Court waived your filing fees. Otherwise it will be $110.

If you filled out the papers correctly, the Judge will sign the Decree of Divorce in about 21 days.

Conclusion

As you can see, if you and your spouse cooperate, then you can get a divorce for the low price of $110. If you are also poor, then you could get a divorce for free.

By Steve Harton

You have agonized over this for weeks or even months. And you have now decided that you want to divorce your husband.

But money is tight already. You know it will get even tighter once you start living apart. You wonder, how much does it cost to file for divorce in Wyoming?

Can you afford it?

The Cost of Filing for Divorce in Wyoming

A divorce does not have to cost a lot, but it will almost always cost something. In this article, we will review some of the costs that you might incur.

Divorce Complaint Filing Fee

In Wyoming, divorces are filed in District Court. There is an $85.00 filing fee for all new district court cases, including divorces.

So $85.00 is usually the minimum cost to file for a divorce.*

Service of Process Costs

After you file the divorce, your spouse has to accept service of the Complaint and Summons. If your spouse does not want to sign the Acceptance of Service, then you will have to serve him.

Service of the Complaint and Summons generally costs $50.00, if it is done by a Sheriff in Wyoming.

If your spouse does not live in Wyoming, the cost of service could be more or less, depending on where he lives.

If you don’t know where your spouse lives, then you will have to serve him by publication. The cost of publishing the Notice of Complaint for Divorce is about $300 to $400.

Waiver of Filing Fees and Service of Process Fees

In some cases, the Court may waive the filing fees and service of process fees.

To find out if this will work for you, you must file an Affidavit of Indigency and Request for Waiver of Filing Fees and All Fees Associated Therewith. This is a standard court form. You basically provide a sworn statement detailing your finances to the Court. If you qualify, the Court will waive your filing fee and your service of process fee.

It can take several weeks to process your request for waiver of fees. So you have to decide if it is worth waiting to see if you can save a total of $135.00.

Conclusion

It will (usually) cost a minimum of $85.00 to file for divorce.*

If you have to serve your spouse in Wyoming, it will cost another $50.00. If you have to serve him out of state, or have to serve him by publication, then it will cost another $400 or so.

*However, and there always seems to be a however in the law, if you qualify, the Court can waive your filing and process service fees. In that case, it will cost $0.00 to file for divorce.

By Steve Harton

How long a divorce takes depends on what the parties agree on. If the Parties agree that they both want a divorce, that is a good first step. However, to make the divorce happen fast, they must agree on the terms of the divorce.

Divorce Waiting Period in Wyoming

Wyoming, as most states, has a waiting period before you can get a divorce. It is twenty (20) days from the date of filing for divorce.

So that is the shortest possible time to get a divorce. On the twenty first date after filing the Complaint. It does happen occasionally, but it is hard to pull off.

Parties in Agreement on Divorce Terms

A Judge will only sign a Divorce Decree if is correctly drafted, and both Parties, or their attorneys, have already signed it.

The only way to get a decree to a Judge in less than twenty days is for the Parties to agree on all the terms. If there is disagreement on anything, then things will take longer.

Agreement on Property Division

If the marriage was short, and there is not a lot of property to divide, then this can be done quickly. If the marriage is longer, and the Parties have more stuff, then it might take a while to figure out the value of various things, and then agree on a fair division.

When there is real estate involved, the Parties have a lot more decisions to make and issues to negotiate. They may need to wait for an appraisal.

If they decide to sell the home, then who will stay in the home while it is on the market? Will that person pay the mortgage, taxes, utilities and repairs? How will they decide which offer to accept?

If they do not sell, then who is going to keep the home? How much will the home keeper pay to their spouse for the equity? How and when are they going to make that payment?

Agreement on Debt Allocation

If there are few debts, then this dividing them is easier. If the debts are in the spouses’ individual names, then the division is even easier.

Short marriages and very long marriages have the fewest debts. However, most marriages result in a number of joint debts. In those cases, the Parties need to decide who is going to take which joint debt, how will they get each other off those debts. The parties also need to decide, and put in the decree, what will happen if a party cannot pay the debts they took on.

Agreement on Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts and 401k’s can be major marital assets even in relatively short marriages. If one of the spouses began their plan prior to the marriage, then figuring out the other spouse’s share can be time consuming.

Agreement on Custody, Visitation and Support

When there are minor children, the Parties have a whole lot more things to agree on.

• Where will the children live?
• How often will they visit the other parent?
• Where will the Parties exchange the kids?
• Which parent will have which holiday?
• How much is child support?

Conclusion

The time it takes to divorce will depend on what the Parties agree on. The more they have, the more opportunity for disagreement. The more disagreement, the longer the divorce takes.

If there is agreement on everything, and the Parties get their Decree drafted and signed, then they can get a Wyoming divorce in twenty one (21) days.

If there is more than one attorney involved, and the Parties agree on everything, then it will take a little longer. That’s because each attorney will need to review the documents, and probably tweak the language, before it can be submitted to the Judge. It can still be done in a month or two.

If all the Parties agree on is that they want a divorce, but they fight about all the terms, then their divorce will probably take longer than a year.

By Steve Harton