Most divorces proceed in one of two ways. The spouses may negotiate a settlement or rely on terms set in a marital agreement forward with an uncontested divorce filing. If they don’t already agree on terms, then they can litigate. Each spouse may request certain terms and present evidence to the courts for a family law judge to consider.
Most divorces either involve uncontested filings or litigation. However, there is a third type of divorce in unusual circumstances. The California courts allow one spouse to ask for a divorce based on the default of the other spouse.
When can a divorce be granted due to default in California?
When one spouse fails to respond
Traditional divorce proceedings begin with one spouse filing paperwork with the courts. They must then serve those papers to the other spouse. The recipient spouse has an opportunity to respond to the request for divorce by countering the proposed terms outlined in the documents they received or accepting those terms.
They have to respond formally to the courts within 30 days of receiving legal service. If they fail to do so, possibly because they do not want to divorce, the spouse who filed can ask the courts to move forward with the divorce filing.
The spouse requesting a divorce by default must submit proof of legal service to the courts when they request that the process proceed without their response. In such cases, the spouse who filed the initial divorce paperwork often sets most or all of the terms for the couple. The process is not immediate. It still takes many months to resolve a divorce even when there is no active litigation.
For the vast majority of people responding to a divorce filing, allowing the case to go into default is an unfavorable outcome. They need an opportunity to respond to the proposed terms suggested by their spouses. By countering the original proposed settlement, they can potentially obtain more reasonable property division, support and custody terms.
Spouses who understand the risk of default may realize how important it is to respond promptly to legal service for a pending California divorce. Those who understand the rules of default divorces can also move forward if their spouse refuses to acknowledge a divorce filing. Learning more about how California handles different divorce scenarios can be beneficial for those who intend to file for divorce or who are unsure of how to respond to a divorce filing.