What to Do If you are Served with Divorce Papers

What to do if you are served with divorce papers?

What to do if you are served with divorce papers? The first, thing you should do is you should know that you have 20 days to respond. Therefore, you should begin looking for a qualified divorce attorney as soon as possible. The divorce attorney should explain the process, your obligations and your spouse’s obligations during a consultation.

For optimum results it is recommended to hire a board certified marital and family lawyer since they have achieved the highest recommendations from other lawyers and judges and they principally practice only in divorce. Second, you should begin gathering all your financial documents such as bank statements, credit card statements, current loan statements and any documents pertaining to your finances. If you do not have access to financial information when you are served with divorce papers, do not fear, Florida law requires both spouses to turn over financial documents within 45 days after you are served with divorce papers. The requirement to turn over financial documents is called “Mandatory Disclosures.” This is one of the obligations that the potential divorce lawyer should discuss with you during your consultation. The third thing that is important to know if you are served with divorce papers is that in most if not every county in Florida, a status quo order goes into effect in your case immediately. What is a status quo order?