PA divorce with no lawyer = Confusion
April 17, 2013 5:21 PM Subscribe
I'm in the process of filing an uncontested, no-fault divorce from my husband. We just want to get the necessary paperwork over with as soon as possible and sign on the dotted line. Details inside, kept short and succinct for your viewing ease!
No kids, no house, nothing to split, just need *our* split to be legal. I filed the initial paperwork, and waited the 90 day period, went back to the courthouse to find out what to do next and no one would tell me, essentially. This was incredibly frustrating, naturally. The law librarian finally showed me a few blank forms in the huge law book and said "it might be one or more of those", so I photocopied them, but have no idea what i'm doing/what I really need.
Any help with what I'm to do now would be much appreciated - we just want to be legally divorced as fast as possible. Lawyers just aren't an option, the money isn't there. Quite literally 0$ to spare.
If it has any bearing, I'm in Southeast PA and we have been living apart since January 2012.
Thank you again!
No kids, no house, nothing to split, just need *our* split to be legal. I filed the initial paperwork, and waited the 90 day period, went back to the courthouse to find out what to do next and no one would tell me, essentially. This was incredibly frustrating, naturally. The law librarian finally showed me a few blank forms in the huge law book and said "it might be one or more of those", so I photocopied them, but have no idea what i'm doing/what I really need.
Any help with what I'm to do now would be much appreciated - we just want to be legally divorced as fast as possible. Lawyers just aren't an option, the money isn't there. Quite literally 0$ to spare.
If it has any bearing, I'm in Southeast PA and we have been living apart since January 2012.
Thank you again!
A lot of states have great self-help legal information at [state]lawhelp.org. It looks like Pennsylvania does. Check out the Marriage, Divorce, and Separation section. There are summaries, videos, and forms that look like they might be helpful!
posted by pril at 6:09 PM on April 17, 2013
posted by pril at 6:09 PM on April 17, 2013
Assuming the location in your profile is accurate, here's the website of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania. In theory, they should be able to either help you or send you to someone who can.
(It's kind of rubbish the courthouse was no use. Ours has a Self-Help Center, which will at least give you the right form and explain how to fill it in.)
posted by hoyland at 6:36 PM on April 17, 2013
(It's kind of rubbish the courthouse was no use. Ours has a Self-Help Center, which will at least give you the right form and explain how to fill it in.)
posted by hoyland at 6:36 PM on April 17, 2013
I could have written your question 6 years ago, word for word only substituting Florida for Pennsylvania. We used legalzoom (as mentioned above). I highly recommend it.
They sent us a packet with all the forms we needed, in order, with the proper amount of copies (one for her records, one for mine, two for the court, whatever) and all the instructions were well written and easily followed and completed by two non-lawyers with no other help.
We filled it all out, signed where it told us to sign, filed it with the court and everything went like clockwork - not a single question from the court folks and nothing had to be added, edited, removed etc.
In such a stressful time in my life, it was a real lifesaver.
posted by zyxwvut at 8:46 AM on April 18, 2013
They sent us a packet with all the forms we needed, in order, with the proper amount of copies (one for her records, one for mine, two for the court, whatever) and all the instructions were well written and easily followed and completed by two non-lawyers with no other help.
We filled it all out, signed where it told us to sign, filed it with the court and everything went like clockwork - not a single question from the court folks and nothing had to be added, edited, removed etc.
In such a stressful time in my life, it was a real lifesaver.
posted by zyxwvut at 8:46 AM on April 18, 2013
Response by poster: Sorry, to clarify - I can't afford to spend money on anything but the bills i have at the moment. Legalzoom, while awesome, isn't even close to affordable for me.
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 5:07 AM on April 19, 2013
posted by assasinatdbeauty at 5:07 AM on April 19, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
good luck
posted by markovitch at 6:07 PM on April 17, 2013