Irreconcilable differences, words that are commonly used to describe the beginning of divorce proeedings. Are you currently contemplating divorce youself but are hesitant to spend thoudands of dollars on legal fees ? If you feel that the divorce can become uncontested then you are a good candidate for a do it yourself divorce, as it has been estimated that 95% of divorce cases are actually uncontested. Massachusetts divorce forms are available for free download and we will show you how to do just that. Of course, court fees will probably have to be incurred but they are inevitable, and such costs tend to be small compared to legal fees charged by any divorce attorney. But first, you should become familiar with some of the basic divorce laws within the state of Massachusetts in order to proceed efficiently.
Massachusetts allows you represent yourself without an attorney in divorce proceedings if both spouses agree on how to divide common property and also agree on the proper care of children, if any. Both spouses must reside within the state, but only one spouse must be a resident if the grounds for divorce occurred outside of the state, then the filing spouse must have resided in the state for at least one year prior to filing. Divorce papers need to be filed in the county of residence. Some grounds for divorce are as follows :
* Adultery or impotency
* Alcohol and/or drug abuse
* Physical and/or mental abuse
* Imprisonment for five years or more in a federal or state institution
* Abandonment or non support
* And many more .....
It should be further noted that Massachusetts also allows no fault divorces, contested or uncontested and six months is the average lenght of time to be expected for a divorce to be finalized.
This is just the beginning however, and Massachusetts divorce forms will help you with the selection of the correct forms to file at any junction of the process. The Massachusetts divorce forms can be downloaded from the links below.
Forms: (Collected from Massachusetts Trial Court official website)
Complaint for Separate Support
Complaint for Divorce under GL