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"How do I begin my divorce? Do I have to fill out some kind of form?"

No matter which state your divorce takes place in and what sort of divorce you anticipate -- friendly or hostile -- every divorce starts out the same way: One spouse must file a complaint or petition with the court, which initiates a divorce civil law suit. The spouse who files becomes the plaintiff, or the petitioner, in the lawsuit, and the other spouse becomes the defendant, or respondent.

If you file the petition, you use it to establish the facts and the issues of the divorce as you see them. You file either a fault or no-fault divorce and also indicate what you want from your divorce -- spousal support, child support, custody of the children, and so on.

John Ventura is a bestselling author, attorney, and a national authority on consumer financial and legal problems. Mary Reed is the founder of Mary Reed Public Relations. This answer has been excerpted from their book Divorce for Dummies (Second Edition, Wiley Publishing, 2005).