A contested divorce case results when the parties are unable to come to an agreement on ALL the issues that arise in their case. The issues that arise in a typical case include:
- division of marital property (personal property, vehicles, financial accounts, real property, etc.)
- division of marital debt (loans, credit cards, etc.)
- existence of alimony (amount and duration)
- time sharing of children
- child support
A contested case begins with the filing of a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. That petition is provided to the other party by a process server. After the other party answers the allegations contained in the petition, the case enters the discovery phase. Various documents are exchanged between the parties. Typically, these documents include:
- tax returns
- pay records
- Financial Affidavit
- credit card bills
- bank records
- insurance (home, car, health, life, etc.) information
- other documents relating to the existence of other assets
- other documents relating to the existence of other debts
A party can request that the other party provide information that may lead to admissible evidence. After the completion of the discovery phase of the case, a mediation is scheduled. Please see the page on Mediation for more information. Most cases are resolved at mediation. If an agreement is not reached at mediation, the case will proceed to trial where the judge will make a final decision on all the issues.
Due to the time and work involved in a contested case, there is no way to determine the cost of a contested case in advance.
