Making the decision to file a Muskogee, Oklahoma divorce is a multi-layered one. There are many factors involved in making the decision, including emotional, financial, and logistical.
When children are involved in the marriage it can make the decision even more difficult. Spouses with children must take not only their own needs into consideration, but also the needs and well-being of their children.
Often times, the decision to divorce is arrived at in stages. Spouses investigate their own feelings first and then examine the financial and logistical aspects.
Moving from two incomes to one can be difficult, especially when dealing with moving out of the family home.
Once the decision is made, here are some steps you might want to consider if you are heading for a Muskogee, Oklahoma divorce.
Hire an Attorney
A good Oklahoma divorce attorney can not only take care of all of the legalities in the divorce proceeding, but can also act as a buffer between you and the divorce. This is an important consideration at a time when emotions are running high and nerves are frayed.
A good attorney can interact with your spouse or with your spouse’s attorney, can keep you on track in the proceedings, and can help you protect your rights. The decisions that you make now can have far-reaching implications. A cool head can really help.
Decide Upon Grounds
You and your Oklahoma divorce attorney can then decide on the legal grounds you will declare in your Muskogee divorce petition.
Oklahoma has a number of legal grounds that are acceptable.
1. Abandonment for one year or longer.
2. Adultery.
3. Impotency.
4. Wife impregnated by a man other than her husband.
5. Extreme cruelty.
6. Fraudulent contract.
7. Incompatibility. However, if children are involved, the parties must attend an educational program on the impact of divorce on children.
8. Habitual drunkenness.
9. Gross neglect of spousal duties.
10. Imprisonment in a state or federal institution for committing a felony at the time a divorce petition is filed.
11. Obtaining a divorce decree from another state that does not release you from divorce in the state of Oklahoma.
12. Insanity for five years or more.
Okla. Stat. tit. 43 § 101
Most of the grounds stated above are “fault” grounds, meaning that you must prove the ground asserted. Choosing one of these grounds can add to the emotional burden borne by the parties involved. Adultery is almost always messy, especially in a courtroom.
The only ground not considered a “fault” ground is incompatibility. By far, most divorces declare incompatibility as the grounds for an Oklahoma divorce.
Filing the Petition
Oklahoma has a residency requirement for the filing of divorce. In order to file, you must have lived in the state for six months and in the county in which you are filing for 30 days prior to filing.
The petition for divorce is a verified petition in Oklahoma. That means that you must attest to the veracity and truthfulness of its contents. This keeps angry spouses from making allegations not founded in the reality of their situation.
If children are involved in the divorce, they need to be listed in the petition as well, by name and age.
Once the petition is filed with the court, you must also make sure that your spouse is served with a copy of the petition. The petition is the opening document in a series of documents that must be filed during the divorce process.
Again, having an attorney work with you will help ensure that your documents are complete, accurate, and filed when they should be.
When children are involved, there is a 90-day waiting period before the divorce can be finalized. An uncontested divorce can be granted fairly quickly, but a contested Oklahoma divorce will likely take much longer than this to resolve.
Negotiate the Settlement Agreement
Before the divorce can be finalized, all of the logistics of the divorce have to be attended to. Assets and liabilities have to be identified and split between the spouses. If children are involved, issues of custody, child support, and visitation must be settled.
There are a number of ways to negotiate this. Your attorneys can do it, you can mediate it, or you and your spouse can draw up a rough agreement that your attorneys can finalize.
But in all cases, the court will have to approve the settlement agreement before an Oklahoma divorce can become final.
Moving On
Once you have taken care of all of the logistics, make sure to take care of yourself as well. Take a breather, and then pick your life back up and enjoy it.
Low-cost Consultation: Muskogee Divorce Lawyer
If you have concerns about the Oklahoma divorce process, contact an experienced Muskogee divorce lawyer as soon as possible to protect your legal rights.
Call Wirth Law Office – Muskogee today at 918-913-0725 or toll free at 1-888-447-7262 [Wirth Law].
