Divorce can be hard. Knowing what to expect can make a difficult situation a little less challenging. In this video you will learn about the 5 basic stages of divorce and what to expect along the way:

Summons & Petition for Divorce
Temporary Orders
Discovery
Options to Settle
Draft & File Final Orders

Let’s look at each of these stages in more detail.

First Stage of Divorce: Filing Summons and Petition for Divorce

The first stage of divorce is the filing of the Summons and Petition for Divorce. Petition and Summons are fairly simple boilerplate documents. They are available online on Washington courts website under family law forms, and you should look them up if you are curious. Once the Petition and summons are filed they must be served on your spouse. You either need to hire a process server or ask your spouse to accept service informally, by email or mail. Note that you cannot formally serve these documents yourself. Once you file these documents the court will issue something called a case schedule if you're in King County, which will set your trial date (it will be approximately one year from the date of filing) and also outline the various deadlines in your case would you have to meet.

Second Stage of Divorce: Temporary Orders

What do you do in the interim if you need things like child support or a parenting plan right away? This is the second stage of divorce we refer to as temporary orders. We refer to them as temporary orders because these orders only last until the divorce is finalized and the final orders are entered.

During the temporary order stage, you can file a motion with the court asking for a number of things.

You can ask the court to award you possession of the family home and order the other spouse to move out.
You can ask the court to determine child support.
You can ask the court to come up with you can ask the court to adopt your proposed temporary parenting plan.
You can ask the court for maintenance or for an award of attorneys fees if you cannot help your own fees.

Once you file this motion you will have a hearing. After the hearing, the temporary orders will be entered and will be valid until final orders are filed. If you want to avoid a hearing, you and your spouse can try to work together to find a mutual agreement for temporary orders.

Third Stage of Divorce: Discovery

The third stage of divorce usually involves Discovery. This is where you and your attorney collect the information necessary to finalize your divorce. Discovery can involve either informal document collection where the spouses simply exchanged what is necessary, or this could involve formal Discovery requests, which are more time consuming but also there are more thorough and are signed under oath. The Discovery stage may also involve depositions, where you or your spouse or other witnesses will testify under oath.

Fourth Stage of Divorce: Pursuing Settling Your Case

Once Discovery is complete, the next stage in the divorce process is to pursue settling your case. Most divorce cases get settled in mediation. Mediation involves taking your case to a neutral third-party professional who has no interest in the outcome. Most mediators are highly skilled at working with both parties to find a mutually agreeable resolution to avoid the need to go to court.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many mediators are performing mediations via Zoom or Skype. We anticipate that in-person mediations will resume once it is safe to do so. If you will be participating in an in-person mediation, you and your attorney will be in a separate room from your spouse and your spouse’s attorney. The mediator goes back and forth between you and your spouse to help you settle the case.

Fifth Stage of Divorce: Draft and File Final Orders

If your case settles in mediation, the next step will be to draft and file final orders. Once final orders have been filed, your divorce is complete.

If your case doesn't settle in mediation, then it must be taken to trial. Without settling, going to trial is the only way to finalize your divorce. Trial preparation and trial itself is quite an endeavor and involves a lot of work.

Preparing for trial involves additional exchanges of information, especially financial information. Your attorney will prepare you and other witnesses for live oral testimony. After preparation is complete, you and your spouse will go to trial. Trials in family law are before a judge or commissioner and are not in front of a jury. Depending on the complexity of your case, your trial can last from three days to three weeks in extreme cases.

If you’re in the Seattle, Washington area and would like to speak to an attorney, give us a call or send us an email.