FAQ: The Final Hearing - Do We Really Have to Go Court?
No, we do not always need to go to court to get the divorce final. By law, your divorce cannot be final any earlier than 60 days after filing the petition. This gives the parties work on reconciliation. The divorce can end several different ways:
1. You and your spouse reconcile and the case is dismissed.
2. Some counties require mediation rather than a hearing.
3. The parties reach a settlement and we do not have a hearing but file a written Property Settlement Agreement.
4. We reach an agreement but instead of filing a writing with the court, we appear at the Final Hearing and verbally explain the agreement to the court.
5. We go to the Final Hearing, put on evidence and leave it to the judge to decide the case.
I will tell you that a settlement is generally preferable to letting a judge decide a case. I say generally because some settlement offers are plainly unacceptable. Settlement means an agreement which means that both you and your spouse do not disagree about the terms of the settlement.
Ethically, I must report to you all settlement offers. I see my job with settlement offers to explain to you the legal pros and cons of the offer. It is not my job to always advocate a settlement offer. The choice of accepting is in the end yours.
You also should be aware that sometimes divorces do not end automatically on day 60. The court may have too much on its calendar for exactly the sixtieth day after the petition was file din your case. There may be issues, usually custody, which will require us to move the date beyond the sixtieth day.
Unless you and your spouse reconcile, the result will be a Decree of Dissolution of Marriage. This is the court’s order dissolving your marriage and resolving all the issues in your case. Your marriage ends but your divorce may just be starting. We will discuss that more in the next few sections. Generally speaking, if you do not have children and you are happy with the court’s decision, this will be the end of the case.
1. You and your spouse reconcile and the case is dismissed.
2. Some counties require mediation rather than a hearing.
3. The parties reach a settlement and we do not have a hearing but file a written Property Settlement Agreement.
4. We reach an agreement but instead of filing a writing with the court, we appear at the Final Hearing and verbally explain the agreement to the court.
5. We go to the Final Hearing, put on evidence and leave it to the judge to decide the case.
I will tell you that a settlement is generally preferable to letting a judge decide a case. I say generally because some settlement offers are plainly unacceptable. Settlement means an agreement which means that both you and your spouse do not disagree about the terms of the settlement.
Ethically, I must report to you all settlement offers. I see my job with settlement offers to explain to you the legal pros and cons of the offer. It is not my job to always advocate a settlement offer. The choice of accepting is in the end yours.
You also should be aware that sometimes divorces do not end automatically on day 60. The court may have too much on its calendar for exactly the sixtieth day after the petition was file din your case. There may be issues, usually custody, which will require us to move the date beyond the sixtieth day.
Unless you and your spouse reconcile, the result will be a Decree of Dissolution of Marriage. This is the court’s order dissolving your marriage and resolving all the issues in your case. Your marriage ends but your divorce may just be starting. We will discuss that more in the next few sections. Generally speaking, if you do not have children and you are happy with the court’s decision, this will be the end of the case.