Did your spouse get arrested, charged, and eventually convicted of a crime during your marriage? You might not have ever expected this to happen, but there are times when people live double lives that their partners are unaware of throughout the relationship. If the crime committed was severe enough to make you want to leave this person for good, you need to get the divorce procedure started. Divorcing someone who is in prison is entirely doable, but you will need to take steps to complete the process.
1. Find Your Divorce Attorney
Finding a divorce attorney is the easiest step involved in this process. Many legal professionals are available to help with the divorce proceedings. You can look around for divorce attorneys around you that have experience assisting clients in getting divorced from individuals that are in prison.
2. Provide Legal Documents
Be prepared to provide proof of the incarceration, but getting the paperwork and legal documents is not too difficult. You may already have copies of court records. If not, you can search for them online or talk to the attorney about obtaining the case records that are usually available to the public. You need to have these documents to prove that your spouse is incarcerated and that the incarceration is the reason you are choosing to end the marriage. Bring any documents with you that you feel would be important for your attorney to review.
3. Have Your Former Spouse Served Papers in Prison
When someone in a marriage decides to get divorced, the other person gets served papers telling them that their former spouse has taken action to go through with the divorce procedure. The same step occurs when one person from the marriage is in prison. Your former partner will receive papers to make them aware of the divorce. They may then provide a response in which they agree with it or contest it. Even if this individual contests the divorce, you can still end the marriage with your divorce attorney's help.
4. Continue to Cooperate With Your Attorney
Be cooperative when working with the attorney. They may need to ask you for additional information or even get more details about the marriage and the crimes your ex committed. Your attorney will tell you if you need to attend any court hearings and will regularly keep you updated on the progress made.
When someone you loved and trusted goes behind your back and does something severe enough to cause them to get sentenced to many years in prison, choosing to get divorced is incredibly understandable. If this sounds just like your situation, you can start taking the necessary steps to end the marriage and become single again.
To learn more, contact a divorce attorney.
Share16 September 2020
