Free Lawyers

A simple uncontested divorce is a divorce that a Rhode Island divorce lawyer can typically complete for a relatively inexpensive flat fee. In a RI uncontested divorce, the attorney and the parties must still attend court for a brief hearing.

The hallmark of a flat fee uncontested divorce is a divorce with: (1) no assets, no real estate, no children and no joint debt or (2) the parties have minimal assets and entanglements and have agreed to everything and no property settlement agreement is needed.

The lawyer must complete an intake process in which the lawyer gets the basic information so that the divorce papers can be filed. The attorney uses the information obtained from the intake to draft the documents. You need to provide the lawyer with your pay stub from work and your marriage certificate.

The next step is to sign the documents in front of the lawyer or another notary. The following documents are required: Complaint, DR(6) financial statement, statement of children, counseling statement, marriage certificate, report of divorce, summons and automatic divorce order.

The financial statement must be accurately and truthfully completed. After the documents have been signed and notarized, the case must be filed. A Court date of approximately 65-70 days will be set by the clerk upon filing. The Defendant must then be served by a RI constable! If the Defendant lives out of state he or she can be served by certified mail.

On the date of the nominal hearing, at the call of the calendar, the case will be called “ready nominal”. A hearing is required under RI law Pursuant to Rhode Island General Law. A divorce cannot be resolved without a nominal hearing.

At the nominal hearing certain testimony must be elicited in order for the divorce to be granted. In some circumstances, it is necessary to have witnesses to briefly testify to prove residency. If you don’t have the required witnesses your case could be delayed or even dismissed and you may waste your time attending court.

In order to obtain a divorce, you need to have been a domiciled inhabitant and resident of Rhode Island for one year prior to your filing. There are exceptions to the residency requirements for people in the armed forces who are stationed abroad or in other states.

A filing can also be based on a persons husband’s/ wife’s residency for one year prior to the filing. It does not matter if you change your residency or move out of town the next day. It only matters that you were a resident on the date of the filing and for one year before!

In order to prove residency, it is enough, if both parties appear at the nominal court date and testify that at least one of the parties was a domiciled inhabitant and resident of Rhode Island for one year prior to the filing of the complaint for divorce.

The Court will usually waive the requirement for an additional witness if both spouses attend the court date and testify that one party had the requisite residency.

If only one party attends the nominal court date then you need to do the following in order to obtain a divorce (a) bring two additional witnesses to testify to the one year residency of the Plaintiff or the Defendant or (b) one witness in court to testify to the one year residency of the Plaintiff and an affidavit from a different witness concerning the person’s residency.

If you do not meet these requirements to prove residency your case may be dismissed. You also may be given additional time to obtain the necessary witnesses or affidavit

After the nominal Court date a Decision Pending Entry of Final Judgment must be submitted to the Court and signed by the Judge.

The Final Judgment can not be submitted or entered until 90 days after the nominal Court date.

Without a final judgment signed by the judge and entered as an order of the Court, the divorce will not be final.

Rhode Island legal Notice per RI Rules of Professional Responsibility:

The Rhode Island Supreme Court licenses all attorneys in the general practice of law, but does not license or certify any lawyer as an expert or specialist in any field of practice.

By: David Slepkow

Divorce can sometimes be the best last option in a bad marriage. However, getting a divorce is not an easy task. The procedure usually involves a lot of legal complexities relating to the custody of children, property, alimony, child support and other such issues. Letting a divorce lawyer deal with all such messy issues would be the best choice for either party.

Although many cheap divorce methods are available, the very best would still be the kind that both partners can do among themselves without involving an outsider. Letting a lawyer in would be somewhat a burden, particularly when the case drags for a long time causing emotional turmoil for either parties, all the while being heavy on the pockets.

There is now available a method to deal with a divorce without a lawyer or an attorney. Known as the Pro Se divorce, or more popularly as the do it yourself divorce, it entitles both the parties filing the divorce papers themselves. However, Pro Se divorce can be filed only under certain conditions and might not be the best option for many.

The first criterion to file a Pro Se divorce is that the divorce is uncontested by either parties, either with respect to children or property. Also, the children, if any are involved, must all be of legal age and so must not be brought into the case. Any kind investment such as deposits, stock, retirement or pension options must not be present for either party. Alimony is not dealt with in case of do it yourself divorce and so the parties must definitely hire a lawyer for the same.

It is compulsory that both the parties file for the Pro Se divorce, instead of one opting for a lawyer and the other going in for the do it yourself divorce. Also, those in military cannot file through this method while in service. A lawyer is compulsory for such military divorce cases. History of physical or mental abuse on either partner by the other, debt, bankruptcy etc., are other conditions that must not be present while filing for a Pro se divorce case. It is also a condition that both the parties are financially well off after the divorce and would not need any kind of support from the other, such as alimony.

Pro Se divorces, as mentioned, involve a lot of legalities that both the partners must consider before opting for this method of divorce. However, one major advantage with this kind of divorce is that it saves a lot of money in form of lawyer fee. But one disadvantage would be that the clients would need to represent themselves in the court with no legal help from a lawyer. Getting the initial paperwork reviewed by an experienced lawyer would be a good choice before filing the papers. This would ensure that all the requisite documents are being provided and getting a separation is only a matter of time even with individual representation in the court without the assistance of a lawyer. The list of documents to be submitted is available on the Internet on websites that help with Pro Se divorces and are relatively easy to locate.

By: Kent Pinkerton