The Divorce Process in El Paso, Texas: From Beginning to End
Filing a Divorce Suit in El Paso, Texas - Part 2
If you are the person getting served with papers, you should try not to respond emotionally to what is written in the divorce petition, especially if a lawyer drafted it. A divorce petition is what is known as a pleading. A pleading is a legal document that performs several functions:
- First, it states a case for jurisdiction and for divorce.
- Second, it usually requests all possible relief that your spouse could seek at trial.
It is the second part that usually gets people riled up. Lawyers will often plead that you are at fault in the breakup of the marriage, or that their client is entitled to a larger share of the property. Lawyers will almost always plead for attorney's fees and court costs.
You may also see a request for a Temporary Restraining Order in the divorce petition, asking that you be restrained from being ugly to your spouse, destroying e-mails, draining the bank accounts, interfering with your spouse's use of the car or house, and other such relief. Click here for an example of the typical language used to request a temporary restraining order.
Do not allow these things to concern you at the point at which you are served with divorce papers. Quite often, there is a big difference between what is in the divorce petition and what your spouse really wants to accomplish in the divorce. The best way to get a feel for where your spouse is coming from: hire a divorce lawyer in El Paso.
