An Uncontested Divorce is a type of divorce that is recommended for the responsible and the diplomatic. The option of an uncontested divorce is not possible in all legal situations and should be avoided in highly contested cases in which the parties are unable to find resolution or an agreement on multiple aspects of the divorce; such as, equitable distribution of assets, debt, property, and or alimony, child custody, child support, visitation, etc. Furthermore, many external factors of a case may make a case inappropriate for uncontested divorce and therefore indicate that an uncontested divorce should be avoided in lieu of a contested option.
The first reason that indicates that an uncontested case should be avoided is that the other party is consistently insisting on unreasonable settlement proposals. One party should not ever be coerced into reaching an unreasonable agreement just for the sake of agreeing and at their own expense. Examples of unreasonable settlements may include but are not limited to: agreeing that an ex-wife can be arrested at any time based solely on the word of the ex-husband, limited visitation time or unfair custodial arrangements without proper justification, husband and or wife insisting on keeping the majority of – or all of assets or property, and husband or wife insisting on not paying child support.
The second indication that an uncontested divorce case should be avoided is that a behavior of the other party makes it impossible to negotiate or cooperate with one another. Reasons and types of behaviors can be varied that lead to failed negotiations but the result is always the same- an inability to find resolution and file for a simple divorce. The winning combination of characteristic attributes that indicate that an uncontested divorce is impossible is when the other spouse is both ignorant about the law and greedy in terms of equitable divisions or child related matters. This combination of character attributes indicates that the individual will expand litigation to meet their greed despite the reasonability of the greed in accordance to law or judicial precedent.
Lastly, the final indication that an uncontested divorce case should be avoided is when one party is legitimately intimidated by the other party/spouse. In cases of domestic violence for example one party may be intimidated to the point that they are unable to make reasonable negotiations out of fear of the other party- and may settle to prevent any conditions of abuse. A contested divorce should be used in place of an uncontested divorce when complications resulting from the abuse, intimidation, or fault may need to be addressed within the pleadings to find resolution in a case and to achieve desired results when the opposing party is not willing to agree.
If your are facing a divorce, and need to speak with someone, call us now 770-609-1247 to speak with an experienced Georgia uncontested divorce attorney.
