- Welcome to SPARC Forums.
My ex is neglecting her responsibility of carrying health insurance on my child. Is there anything I can do?
You can ask the court to impose sanctions on her or hold her in contempt, but don't hold your breath. The courts are notoriously lax in enforcing provisions like this.
You can ask the court to impose sanctions on her or hold her in contempt, but don't hold your breath. The courts are notoriously lax in enforcing provisions like this.
I'm new to all this...where do I start?
If you're just getting started on the SPARC site, we'd suggest doing the following:
We also suggest you take a look through the Articles Archive, which has almost 500 pages of practical, tips, tools, and techniques that cover numerous divorce and custody issues.
In general, your best source of continuing information will tend to be the message boards. It's a great place to ask questions, get ideas and advice, and to vent some frustration from time to time.
If you're just getting started on the SPARC site, we'd suggest doing the following:
- Read the Steps To Protect Yourself page.
- Read the Tips For Getting Started page.
- Get an account on the message boards and start asking questions.
- Use the SPARC Search Engine to find specific information you're interested in on the message boards, or use this link to search the Articles.
We also suggest you take a look through the Articles Archive, which has almost 500 pages of practical, tips, tools, and techniques that cover numerous divorce and custody issues.
In general, your best source of continuing information will tend to be the message boards. It's a great place to ask questions, get ideas and advice, and to vent some frustration from time to time.
Sorry, this feature is not available at this time; please check back later (yes, we're working on restoring it).
You can find information specific to your State through the SPARC State Resource Manager.
How is a divorce initiated?
A divorce is formally initiated when one spouse or the other files a form (usually called a 'Petition For Dissolution') in the Family Court in your jurisdiction.
The attorney for the filing, or 'moving' party collects information from that person regarding the marital estate, minor children (if any), debts, assets, etc, and enters it into the Petition For Dissolution. The Petition is sent to the Court Clerk for entry into the Family Court list of pending cases.
At the same time, copies of the Petition are given to you, generally by a process server or a "disinterested third party". At this point you must respond within a certain amount of time (typically3 to 4 weeks) or you lose your right to have any input into later proceedings.
What is an uncontested divorce?
An uncontested divorce is one in which there are no disputes over property issues, support or child custody. Issues involving property and support, if resolved by the parties, may be set out in a marital settlement agreement which is presented to the court at the time the divorce action is filed. The court will review the agreement and, if reasonable, it will be made part of the divorce decree.