How to get ex to sign papers and keep the peace. Asking for a friend.

southern_litigator · 2018-05-25T20:32:25+00:00

Attorney here, but this is specifically not legal advice and I do not represent either you or your friend.

Usually in states with “uncontested/irreconcilable differences” divorce statutes, both sides MUST agree to the divorce. When one spouse balks at that, there are several options. For one, it’s always useful to have grounds for divorce (check statutes to see if they are actually applicable) (more on that in a second). Two, since they haven’t been married long, I doubt there is much to fight over, and sometimes it’s useful to have the attorney contact the other spouse’s attorney and say something along the lines of, “Look, all this is going to do is cost money for both your client and my client. He plainly doesn’t want to be married to her so can you try to see why she won’t sign the papers?” In some states alimony is not automatic so holding out on signing isn’t going to get you anywhere. The other option (if your friend and his attorney thinks he may have some ground for divorce) is to amend the complaint for divorce to state grounds and in the alternative request an uncontested divorce (not that expensive and fairly easily done) and then have the attorney start sending subpoenas to her, her friends, her family, anyone who might know or has reason to know anything. This is a bargaining chip. No person in their right mind wants to have intimate details of their lives exposed and people they know questioned by an attorney. Pretty sure that as soon as she gets that first subpoena or her best “girlfriend” gets one, she will be giving either your friend or his attorney a phone call to settle this thing. Subpoenas do wonders on people who play difficult.

TL;DR his attorney should know how to deal with this using the above information and your best bet is to keep being encouraging and supportive. Just don’t let him screw up and give her a reason to go after him. Again, this is not legal advice and is purely informative in the general sense of the word.

killerbutton · 2018-05-25T19:03:33+00:00

Does he have a lever to pull like financial support? Wanna say you can force it if they've been seperated that long, depends on the state.

k10withremovabletop · 2018-05-25T20:47:41+00:00

Thanks for that info! So nice of you to reply. I’m mostly concerned at this point that his attorney is trying to take advantage of him by asking for more money to file a contested divorce. So with the uncontested they should be able to issue subpoenas? He does have reason to believe that there has been another man involved but zero proof and no want to peruse that route anyway. I was looking a little into GA divorce law and (I think)he would be able to claim willful desertion.

Title	How to get ex to sign papers and keep the peace. Asking for a friend.
Author	k10withremovabletop
Upvotes	4
Comments	6
Date	May 25, 2018 5:49 PM UTC (8 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/Divorce_Men
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/Divorce_Men/comments/8m3pid/how_to_get_ex_to_sign_papers_and_keep_the_peace/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/Divorce_Men/how-to-get-ex-to-sign-papers-and-keep-the-peace.820140 https://theredarchive.com/post/820140

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