Divorce can be a long, arduous process. Exes often spend months battling back and forth. You must painstakingly untangle shared lives, deal with legal and logistical hurdles, and prepare to move forward. At the end of it all, once all is said and done, you walk away with your final divorce decree in your hands.
What is a Divorce Decree?
A divorce decree represents the court’s final ruling on the matter at hand.
On a practical level, it grants the dissolution of marriage and lays out the basic information regarding the split. This includes the case number, divorce date, and each party’s responsibilities.
What’s In A Divorce Decree?
This document covers many topics, but what exactly should you expect to see in your divorce decree?
Division Of Property
Different states handle the division of property in different ways. Washington follows community property guidelines when splitting up shared assets in a divorce.
As a concept, this is fairly straightforward. All property acquired during your marriage, even items held in one individual’s name, belongs equally to both parties. In a legal sense. When it comes to divorce, the court aims to divide the property equitably.
This doesn’t mean you split everything equally between the two of you. In community property states, the division of assets will be such that both parties come out on a relatively even footing.
Spouses can work together to reach an arrangement, enlist the aid of mediators, or allow the court to determine how to divide any assets. Whatever path you take, both sides must agree to the settlement. This forms a key part of the divorce decree.
Related Reading: High Asset Divorce
Division Of Debt
Much like property, possessions, and assets accrued during a marriage are viewed as community property, so too is debt. Finalizing a divorce doesn’t change any financial obligations you incurred while married.
For example, if you have a mortgage, car loan, or other shared debt in your name, you remain responsible for that debt.
If you owe substantial amounts, during the settlement negotiations, you and your spouse must decide who remains responsible for what. Your divorce decree outlines these obligations.
Just because the decree orders your ex to handle a specific debt doesn’t mean they always do. In a perfect world, yes, but we don’t live in a perfect world.
If they miss payments, it can negatively impact you and your credit. You may even wind up being sent to collections.
In these situations, agreements often require your ex to refinance a loan to remove your name. Still, it may be in your best financial interest to follow up to ensure this actually happens.
Related Reading: Rebuilding Finances and Protecting Your Credit Score After a Divorce
Custody And Visitation
When a split involves minor children, divorce proceedings often become even more heated and contentious. In these cases, a big part of the process will be determining which parent has primary physical custody, establishing a schedule moving forward, and creating a parenting plan.
Part of this arrangement includes visitation. The specifics must be worked out between you and your spouse or be ruled on by the court. Though many parents work diligently to establish visitation and remain a part of their children’s lives, it’s easy to let them get trampled on later.
Even after the divorce decree, if your ex pushes boundaries and violates the agreement, you may have to take measures to enforce your parental rights.
Related Reading: What Does a Parenting Plan Include?
Child Support
If children figure into your divorce, child support usually becomes one of the biggest pieces of your financial puzzle moving forward. Whether you make or receive these payments depends on the custody arrangement.
The parent with the most overnights usually gets the money. However, child support can be awarded in cases of 50/50 shared custody. Most often this boils down to financial need and the ability to pay.
Child support provides for the continuing care of your kids following a divorce. They cover everything from necessities, like food, shelter, and medical care, to education and beyond. If this is a part of your separation, your divorce decree should include the specifics of child support. This includes the amount, who pays, how to make or receive payments, and more.
Related Reading: Frequently Asked Child Support Questions Answered
Spousal Support
Although not awarded in every case, spousal support often arises in divorce.
If it does, it also appears in your divorce decree. Following the dissolution of a marriage, these payments, commonly called alimony, help spouses meet any financial needs.
Not as formulaic as child support, a number of factors impact the amount. This includes the age and health of both parties, the length of the marriage, future earning potential, and more.
Depending on the situation, spousal support can be short-term and temporary or continue indefinitely. The court may order alimony for a brief time to help one spouse transition back to single life or even obtain training to reenter the workforce.
If one party contributed significantly to the employment prospects of the other, or if a great divide in earning potential exists, alimony may also be assigned.
In cases of ongoing financial need, lingering health issues, and other circumstances, the court often orders spousal support indefinitely.
Related Reading: How Is Spousal Support Calculated?
Before You Sign Your Divorce Decree
If you paid attention during the process, you shouldn’t find any surprises in your divorce decree.
Whether you worked with your spouse, with attorneys, used mediation, or allowed the court to rule, these are all terms to which you previously agreed.
Still, make sure to give the document a close look. Read it thoroughly before you sign and send it to the judge to be finalized. You’ll want to examine it for any mistakes, unclear language, or anything that has changed. Things like this need to be taken care of before signing.
After the divorce decree is official, making changes, even in cases of error, becomes tricky and expensive.
As with most legal matters, you may want to enlist the services of a skilled divorce lawyer. Even if you handled everything yourself, it never hurts to have an experienced professional double-check the work. A few hundred dollars now often saves you money, time, and headaches down the road.
Related Reading: Can You Protect Your Business in Divorce?
Comments 2
She left the country and will never come back from Guatemala. I want a divorce and the only thing that has both names is my car. I already cleared that with the car dealership that I am responsible for the car payments now and they have all my information.
Author
Hi Eric. We passed your question on to our managing attorney. He will reach out to you directly to let you know what options you have for pursuing divorce with your spouse out of the country.