Filing For A Divorce

[cvasser]

If the husband files for a divorce with the county court without the wife's knowledge, what can the wife do to contest that the divorce, if she does not choose to agree to the divorce.  Neither party has an attorney involved.

[TC]

I believe Bama is a no fault state....either party in a marriage can file for divorce and it will be granted.  You can't stop it.

As far as the filing being without the wife's knowledge....depends on how long ago the filing was made.  Normally it is a condition of the court that notification be made in a timely manner.  If this is a recent filing, it may be that the wife simply has not been served with notification yet.



Your best bet at this point would be to educate yourself on your own rights so that you can protect your own assets during the pending proceedings.

TC

[CollegeDad]

There are two types of divorces; contested and uncontested. 

If the divorce is uncontested, that means that the husband and wife both agree that the marriage is over and they both work together to hammer out a divorce decree that they both agree they can live with.  This is the type of divorces that Lee Borden, the owner of this discussion group, mainly works.  In this type of divorce both the husband and wife sign the divorce decree and this is filed with a judge for his signature.  No court date is set.  No one is served any papers.  The judge will make sure that it follows Alabama divorce statutes and sign it and the couple will go on their separate merry ways.

If the divorce is contested, then one or the other party in the marriage has to file for a divorce with the circuit court in the county where the married couple reside.  Since Alabama is a no fault state, the party filing for the divorce does not have to prove to the judge that the other party is "at fault".  All they have to file is that they have "irreconcilable differences" and the judge has enough grounds to grant the party a divorce.  According to civil procedure, when one party of a marriage files for a contested divorce, the other party in the marriage has to be provided notice.  This is usually done in the form of a deputy sheriff physically handing the papers to the other party in the marriage. 

So, if the wife has not been served papers on the divorce, she will.  And then she'll have a chance to go hire an attorney and respond.