Penrose, CO Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

I can not give out legal advice, without knowing who I am giving to, without risking a conflict of interest. Direct contact eliminates these issues. However, here is some "Legal Information? (not advice) that may be helpful. Clearly, your Husband has done something to convince the Court that it has personal jurisdiction. The problem that creates, if the divorce proceeds, is that the Court could proceed without you via default. You do not want that. Okay, then, what to do? 1) File a Notice with the Court that you have not been personally served with divorce paperwork, nor have you signed any ?waiver of service.? Let the Court know your current mailing address and contact information. You can provide an explanation (just as you did in your question) as to the fact that you have been living in the same place (marital residence?) for eight years, and that you just learned about the divorce and haven't received any paperwork. If you have something that shows Husband did know your whereabouts, attach or reference it in the Notice. 2) Go to the Clerk?s Office at the Courthouse and ask to view your divorce file. This should tell you what/how you Husband did to convince the Court that it had personal jurisdiction over you (service by publication perhaps?). If you want to do this, make sure to go soon. If you try and do this in the day or two preceding your status conference, you probably won't be able to see the file, because it will be on the way to the Magistrate or Court Facilitator who will be handling the conference. 3) In addition to filing the Notice I referenced above, you could file a motion to dismiss. However, this will probably be a waste of time. Ultimately, if your Husband wants a divorce, the Court is going to give me one, even if he was deceptive in his original filing. 4) You should probably attend the initial conference - just so that the Court doesn't start to proceed without you. If you request it, the Court will require your husband to provide you with the proper paperwork, as well as any initial orders that the Court has already issued. The Court has the ability to give you additional time to file a formal response, and to start working on your financial disclosures (which are required in all divorces). The Court will probably reschedule the initial conference to accommodate this. 5) If you have a way to establish that your Husband did know where you were living or had been in contact with you (mail, e-mail, phone calls, etc.), I would collect and preserve it. Credibility is very important when dealing with the Court. If the divorce becomes conflicted and you need to have a hearing or trial, it will be helpful to show the Court that Husband has an issue with truthfulness in his representations to the Court. I hope that is helpful.

If you would like a free consultation, please give my office a call, and I would be happy to speak with you. I can not give out legal advice, without knowing who I am giving to, without risking a conflict of interest. Direct contact eliminates this issue. Here is some "Legal Information? (not advice) that may be helpful. 1) An important question is how did the two of you separate? Have you been leading totally separate financial lives for the last 10 years, except for the payments that you have been making? 2) One of the processes that happens in a divorce is that the parties have to exchange financial information. Her financial picture will effect the outcome. In a divorce, all marital property is divided. You really can?t take one piece of the division and assess fairness, without looking at the entire proposed settlement. 3) 95% of divorce cases end in settlement. Unless one of you is totally unreasonable, you should be able to reach a ?fair? resolution. 4) The important objective is to develop a settlement that is fair to BOTH of you. Reading your message, I?m not understanding the fairness of you giving her 73% of your monthly pension check. I would also want to understand her position on why 50/50 division of the pension is fair. 5) Neither of those questions can be fully answered without looking at your and her full financial picture(s) - i.e. what are your assets and debts; same for her; and what is her income. Also relevant, as stated above would be the ten years financial separation.

Marital misconduct (e.g. infidelity) is not a factor in dividing marital assets and debts. Generally speaking, you are each entitled to half of all community property assets and debts. I recommend you speak with an attorney to discuss this matter in greater detail.