While the rules of divorce can change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and divorces themselves can be amicable or confrontational, all divorces start with one spouse (the plaintiff or petitioner) filing a petition or complaint with the court against the other spouse (the defendant or respondent).

Since you’re the one poised to start the divorce, your petition should include all of the facts related to your divorce, plus what you believe you are entitled to regarding support and custody, if applicable. Also, depending on where you live, you can either file for fault or no-fault divorce.

Since divorce is often not a planned event, most spouses don’t sit down and work out a plan on how to handle these issues beforehand. However, if you and your spouse both want to divorce and can (to at least some degree) work together to resolve things in a fair and expeditious manner, than you can mutually negotiate a divorce agreement prior to filing the divorce petition.

By Josh D. Simon