Danbury, Connecticut Family Law Attorney
The firm's family law practice often deals with and resolves complicated financial matters. We use sophisticated tools to make the complex simple for our clients. Further, the very nature of our divorce and divorce mediation practice requires the ability to handle emotionally charged issues. We have the experience, understanding and discretion necessary to resolve difficult and delicate matters. We limit the number of clients we represent at any given time and therefore can devote our zealous attention to each matter.
Overview:
In Connecticut, a married person can obtain a divorce on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown. While the law provides other grounds for a divorce (such as adultery, desertion and intolerable cruelty), there is no need to allege any of these grounds, and a simple statement that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, without the hope of reconciliation, will suffice.
Initial Restraints:
Upon the commencement of a divorce action, several orders of the court automatically apply to both parties. Among other things, these orders restrain each of the parties from (1) selling, concealing, or disposing of any of the property of the parties; (2) incurring unreasonable debts; (3) removing permanently from the state of Connecticut any minor child of the parties; (4) changing the beneficiaries of any life insurance policy; and (5) the removal from the health insurance coverage by any party of the other party, or of the minor children of the marriage.
The Process:
A divorce action is started with the delivery of a Summons and Complaint to a spouse by a deputy sheriff. Delivery of the papers can be accomplished by several means, the most desirable of which is delivery in hand. When the whereabouts of the defendant spouse are unknown or when the defendant lives out-of-state, the method of providing notice of the divorce to the defendant becomes further complicated, requiring initial actions too detailed to be discussed here. The Complaint contains basic information about the marriage and any children. Further, the filing party asks the court to order such things as alimony, child support and a division of the property.
If your spouse starts a divorce and papers are delivered to you, it is highly advisable to file an answer and a cross-complaint in response to the plaintiff's allegations and claims. A ninety-day waiting period begins on the day by which the defendant must respond (or the return date) and a final decree for divorce cannot be granted until the end of the waiting period.
Parenting:
Parties involved in a divorce are required to attend a parenting education program as a pre-condition of obtaining a divorce. The court has selected approved providers of parenting education programs. A list of these providers is available at our office or the Clerk's Office of the Superior Court.
At GILL Law Practice, we are experienced and accessible. Please contact our Danbury office us for all of your family law needs.