What Is Involved in a Divorce Judgment?

A divorce judgment is a court order that dissolves a marriage. To get to the point at which a divorce is granted, a person usually has to file a complaint to initiate divorce proceedings. Then, his spouse is given the opportunity to respond to the complaint. Depending on the unique circumstances under which people are divorcing, a couple may go to court to hash out the details of the divorce or come to an agreement on their own. Once the details of the divorce are settled, a divorce judgment is granted and the parties are legally divorced.

When a party in a marriage wants a divorce, he seeks a divorce judgment. A divorce judgment means the spouses in a marriage have finalized the matters related to their marriage and a divorce has been granted. In order to seek a divorce judgment, one of the spouses usually files a divorce complaint and the other one responds to it. He may respond by agreeing to the divorce or by contesting it. If the spouses cannot agree, a judge usually makes a final decision on granting the divorce.

The path taken to secure a divorce judgment depends, in part, on the couple. Sometimes a couple agrees not only about ending the marriage, but also about splitting marital assets and caring for children. In such a case, a judge may simply approve their agreement and grant the divorce. When the couple cannot agree, however, a judge may preside over a divorce trial and make decisions regarding the division of assets, custody, child support, and alimony.

In some places, a person can also secure a default divorce judgment. This occurs when one spouse files a divorce complaint and the other spouse, who is named the defendant in the case, is properly notified of the proceedings but chooses not to respond. In such a case, the defendant is given a specific amount of time in which to respond. If he fails to do so, the court usually grants a default judgment on behalf of the plaintiff. This basically means the plaintiff wins his case.

The procedure for seeking a divorce and the types of divorce that are available differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions, for example, grant only no-fault divorces while others establish fault. Interestingly, there are even some jurisdictions that allow spouses to finalize their divorces through the mail while others require court appearances.