Although the law varies from state-to-state, there is a certain period of time in which a person who is served with divorce paperwork must submit their own “Answer” or risk being defaulted by the court.
As divorce lawyers will tell you, filing an Answer is a very important step in defending your rights in any divorce or “dissolution of marriage” proceeding. (As an aside: I apologize if I use terms that are a little over people’s heads in this blog. Feel free to comment if you don’t understand something).
Below is an example of how a state might require a person to submit an Answer after being served with divorce paperwork:
The person being served with his or her spouse’s divorce paperwork shall have 30 days in which to answer the divorce petition. If the the divorce petition is served on the other spouse in a newspaper, the 30 days shall not begin to run until the expiration of the period allowed for publication. In the case of a counterpetition for dissolution or legal separation to a petition for dissolution or legal separation, no answer shall be required to the counterpetition and the original petitioner shall be deemed to have denied each and every statement, allegation and claim in the counterpetition.
If you read the text above, you will probably be wondering, what is a Counter-petition? A Counter-petition is much like an Answer. They both serve to show the court that the other spouse is contesting the dissolution proceedings and he or she wants their interests protected. Further, as the text quoted above states, an Answer or a Counterpetition can often be filed, but both are not necessary.
So, using the text quoted above, we know that the “respondent” would have 30 days in which to file an Answer or a Counterpetition after being “served” with the initial divorce paperwork. If the respondent does not answer, they could be defaulted.
What does “default” mean? It means that the court may proceed without hearing the other side’s case. Imagine this: the person who filed for divorce submits their “Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.” The other party who was served doesn’t file and Answer or a Counter-petition within 30 days. The court may now, in its discretion, choose to default the non-answering party and proceed forward only on the original filing party’s petition. That could truly be a bad thing for somebody trying to defend themselves and make sure their interests in a divorce are met.
There a lot of rules related to deadlines and times for answering a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. The deadline for submitting an Answer or Counterpetition is very important. If you don’t understand these deadlines, you need to talk with your divorce lawyer in Apple Valley MN. It’s that simple.
