Two Types of No Fault Proceedings

1A Divorce

. Quickest and easiest divorce.
. Both spouses must agree that their marriage has irretrievably broken down and they must have agreed upon all attendant issues. (Children, division of property, alimony, payment of marital debts, etc.)
. Procedure: both file a joint petition for divorce, in which they spell out how all of the issues are to be resolved. A hearing will then be held in court where the judge will review the agreement, if the terms are fair, the divorce will granted and the marriage will be dissolved.

1B Divorce

. More common type of divorce
. In this situation, both parties can’t agree on the terms, so one spouse files a complaint for divorce with the family court.
. Court carries out the terms of the divorce.
. Procedure: Plaintiff files against defendant. Will ultimately result in a divorce, but will take much longer, be much more expensive, and much more difficult since parties are unlikely to agree on anything.