If you have been served with divorce papers, you have thirty (30) days to respond. The same time period applies if the service happens by publication. That is, if the family court allows service to be published because of the inability to proceed with service in person, then the responding party has thirty (30) days to respond. (In the case of publication, the 30 days starts running on the date of the last of three publications.)

What is most important during that thirty-day period is to be in contact with the petitioning party or their attorney. Whether or not the responding party serves an answer within that period, or has an attorney make the first contact with the petitioning party, the petitioning party/attorney needs to know that the responding party is not needlessly delaying the process. Consequences for missing the 30-day deadline may include monetary sanctions, including the responding party reimbursing the petitioning party for fees and costs pertaining to needless delay.

If there is a stipulation to the terms of your divorce there is no need for a hearing if there are no minor children involved. Also, there is no need for a hearing if there are children involved but both parties are represented by counsel. In both of these situations, the court will do administrative review of the proposed decree and either (a) approve or (b) set the matter on for a hearing.

Conversely, if there are minor children involved, and one or both parties is not represented by counsel, it is the practice of the courts to have a hearing.

In either instance (administrative review or court hearing), the court will address problems or omissions in the proposed decree if something needs to be corrected in order to gain the court’s approval.

By statute, a divorce petition must be personally served. That is to say, someone must personally hand the documents to the responding party. It must be someone over the age of 18 who is not a party. So, it can be any adult that is not the petitioner. The person who does this deed (the “process server”) must then sign an affidavit (the “Affidavit of Service”) verifying that they have done so.

In the alternative to personal service, the responding party can acknowledge receiving the documents by signing an Admission of Service. Since the advent of email, this has become a common practice. The petition is PDF’d to the responding party, who is given the opportunity to sign an Admission of Service as a preferable alternative to being confronted by a process server, who may be someone they know or may be a complete stranger.

If the personal service happens outside the U.S., it is necessary (by statute) to have the process certified by a United States minister, charge d’affaires, commissioner, consul, commercial agent, or other consular or diplomatic officer.

The typical, traditional way to start a divorce is one party personally serving the other party with a divorce summons and petition. That is, one of the parties must be literally handed the documents. These days, it is at least as likely that the receiving party will simply sign an Admission of Service when the documents are emailed to them. For the responding party, that prevents the awkwardness of receiving personal delivery of legal documents at home or, worse yet, at one’s workplace; and for the petitioning party, it avoids the hassle and expense of carrying out the task of personal service.

A joint petition is different. Both parties sign a joint petition, which does away with the need for a summons, and also does away with the need for personal service of the documents. If both parties cooperate in commencing the case (which requires both parties to assert that there is an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage), then neither party needs to serve the other party.

Oftentimes, parties who proceed on a joint petition can also agree on the terms of the divorce, and incorporate the agreed terms into the joint petition. In that case, the entire divorce case is basically encapsulated in one document. This is most likely to happen if the marriage is of relatively short duration, and there are no children of the marriage and no complicated financial issues.

Essentially, a divorce petition asserts that the petitioner is married, is a Minnesota resident, that there is an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and that the petitioner would like for the court to dissolve the marriage.

More specifically, the applicable statute (Minn. Stat. Section 518.10) requires the following:

*Petitioner’s name and address and any prior names used, if any.

*Respondent’s name and (if known) address and (if known) any prior names used, if any.

*Date and place of the marriage.

*Petitioner’s (or Respondent’s) residence (or domiciliary status or armed service stationing) in Minnesota for at least 180 days.

*Names and dates of birth of the children of the marriage (i.e., children of the parties born or adopted during the marriage, or born before the marriage)

*Confirming whether or not any proceeding for dissolution, legal separation, or custody is pending in a court in Minnesota or elsewhere.

*The irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship.

*Claim for spousal maintenance, child support, child custody, property settlement and attorney’s fees.

*Whether a domestic abuse order for protection is in place that governs either party or a child of the parties.

One of the ground rules when a divorce is pending is not to change insurance status. This applies to the responding party, as well as the petitioning party.

Before the divorce, both spouses may have health insurance through one spouse’s employment. There may be life insurance in which the surviving spouse is named the beneficiary. Both of these situations may well change after the divorce is final: one spouse may have to obtain health insurance from a different source because insurance is no longer available through their (now) former spouse. And the parties may have different plans for naming a death beneficiary for their respective life insurance policies.

So the rule that restrains either party from making changes during the divorce prevents someone from being uninsured out of spite while the breakup is occurring in real time. If the insurance status is frozen, then whatever the beneficiary status was before the divorce remains in place during the divorce. (The exception to this rule is a situation in which both parties confirm in writing an agreement to make a change.)

After the divorce, the rule expires and the insurance status is not required to remain frozen. However, the divorce decree may impose new requirements in accord with the terms of the divorce. For instance, one party may be required to leave the other party named as the beneficiary of life insurance, to secure the payment of spousal maintenance

When a divorce proceeding has begun, both parties are subject to certain ground rules. The petitioning party who has initiated the process is imposing restrictions on the responding party, but also self-imposing those restrictions since they apply to both parties. Neither party may dispose of assets except (a) for the necessities of life or for the necessary generation of income or preservation of assets; (b) by an agreement in writing; or (c) for retaining counsel to carry on or to contest the proceeding. Basically, it is either typical life, lawyering up, or with the other party’s written consent.

The purpose of the restrictions is to deter parties from engaging in bad-faith or retaliatory conduct, and brings order and fairness into the case proceedings. But the restrictions do not interfere with the parties’ everyday financial needs so that the parties can conduct their normal activities.

A petition for a marriage dissolution is not a terribly complicated document. Basically, one states that they are a resident of Minnesota for at least 180 days who is married, and there is an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. As a result, the petitioner requests the court to dissolve the marriage and address other applicable issues. The other issues may involve child custody and co-parenting, spousal maintenance and/or child support, real estate and other assets, liabilities and other financial issues, and the changing of names. But all in all, it is a rather straightforward document.

The statutory requirements of the petition are:

1. Petitioning party’s name, address and prior names;
2. Other party’s name, address (if known) and prior names (to the petitioner’s knowledge);
3. When and where the parties were married;
4. Assertion of Minnesota residency, armed services stationing or domiciliary status;
5. Names and dates of birth of children born or adopted during the marriage (and expected date of birth of a conceived but as yet unborn child);
6. Identifying any other proceeding elsewhere for dissolution, legal separation or child custody involving the parties;
7. Statement of the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage;
8. General claim of maintenance, support, custody, property and attorney’s fees, if applicable; and
9. Whether a restraining order is in place involving the parties or their minor child(ren).

Divorcing parties with children are required by Minnesota statute to participate in parenting education. The education requirement dates back to the late 1990’s, when the legislature called for the judicial districts to develop and implement programs to educate parents about (a) the impact that divorce, the restructuring of families, and judicial proceedings have upon children and families; (b) methods for preventing parenting time conflicts; and (c) dispute resolution options.

In some cases in which the parents present an amicable dynamic to the court by agreeing to custody and parenting time provisions, the court will waive the education requirement. In other cases, in which the parents are engaged in a high level of conflict that negatively impacts the child(ren), the parenting education is of vital importance.]

Whether or not you believe that you are in need of parenting education, and whether or not the dynamic in your case is amicable or high-conflict, parenting education is helpful. One program that is highly recommended is called Bridging Parental Conflict. The Bridging Parental Conflict® class is a one-time 6-hour online educational experience developed for parents who experience conflict with their co-parent, or for parents who are just beginning the transition to a co-parenting relationship. More information is available, as well as a registration link, at bridgingparentalconflict.com. (Participants are directed not to attend the program at the same time as their co-parent.)

When a divorce proceeding begins, both of the parties are subject to restraining provisions to avoid bad-faith financial tactics. Neither party may dispose of assets except for the necessities of life, the necessary generation of income or preservation of assets, by an agreement in writing, or for retaining counsel to carry on or to contest the divorce proceeding. That is to say, that the parties should be doing nothing unusual unless (a) both parties agree in writing; or (b) one of the parties is utilizing marital funds to obtain or maintain legal representation in the divorce.

This rule takes effect as soon as the petitioning party serves process on the responding party, or the responding party acknowledges service of the petition. And the rule applies to the petitioning party at the same time as it applies to the responding party.

If the parties are jointly seeking the divorce (i.e., with a Joint Petition for Marriage Dissolution), then the rule applies to both parties once the Joint Petition is filed with the court.