Residency
For filing a divorce case in Washington D.C., complete residency requirements should be met for the court to accept the case. If the court finds that it does not have jurisdictional powers or rights to hear the divorce case, it will not be accepted for hearing and in some cases it will eventually be dismissed. The residency requirements in Washington DC are as follows: Either partner must be a Washington D.C resident for at least 6 months in order to file a divorce case.
Documents required for filing divorce
Complaint for Divorce and Final Decree of Divorce – these are the important documents required to initiate and finalize a divorce case. Some other documents that are normally filed during the process are: Affidavit of Corroborating Witness, Financial Affidavit, Marital Settlement Agreement and Affidavit Regarding the Children.
Distribution of Property
Washington D.C. is considered as “equitable distribution” state, so as per laws, martial properly is distributed equally among the partners. If partners are unable to reach and conclusion about how to distribute property, then court will use three step process for appropriate distribution.
First of all court will decide what property is marital. Second, according current real state value, court will determine a value of the marital property. In last, court will divide the marital property in an appropriate way, not necessarily equal, instead what is considered to be fair.
Change of Name or Restoration of name
After filing for a divorce case, either partner can restore their name to their former name
Mediation Counseling
Court may order that one party or both parties attend a brief parenting education class before divorce being finalized but only if the case involves minor children.
Alimony
District of Columbia courts may order permanent or temporary alimony during case proceeding if it feels it is appropriate. In making this decision the court will consider a various financial factors except marital fault.
Child Custody
Child custody (whether Joint or Shared) is becoming day by day more and more popular with the District of Columbia courts. If parties request to have “legal” shared or joint custody, it will most likely be granted, in almost all cases. As for shared or joint “physical” custody, the District of Columbia court will determine this more strictly in order to find out if it is a correct choice.
Child Support
In order to decide a monthly support amount, parties can refer to the District of Columbia child support worksheet for best solutions. This worksheet uses the child support procedures that are defined by state law. The court will use this same child support worksheet as a building block for deciding the support obligation – i.e if parties are unable to come to a solution on this issue.
