my ex and I have gotten along until recently when she was served with divorce papers. I did not ask for anything other than to be divorced. She will no longer talk to me and said that if I have anything to say to her it will be through her lawyer. She had an attorney back when we first separated but have not heard anything further since the separation agreement was drafted but was never agreed upon. Custody nor child support has ever been established although she has been fine with what we have done with both over the past year. When our year was up and I said are you filing or me she said you go ahead. Now I am wondering should I send further correspondece to her attorney that I didnt think she still had? Can she make any type of counter claim in the divorce and if so what kind (ie. child custody divorce)? Can she contest it? What exactly can her lawyer do? We split up all our property when we first separated with no problem (we rented) She is the one who asked me to leave in the first place.
If you have not settled your property issues or alimony (if applicable) your wife will counterclaim for these items as part of her answer to the divorce. Equitable Distribution and Alimony must be settled prior to divorce, or the claims must be pending with the courts prior to the divorce judgment being entered or the claims are lost forever. Since you have no property left to divide, she may seek only alimony if she is the dependant spouse.
She will likely also include claims for child custody and child support (though these claims can be filed at any time and are unaffected by divorce).
The divorce itself cannot be contested if you have in fact been separated for one year. The divorce will be granted, and any other claims she may file will be dealt with by the courts at a later time.
So she can counterclaim in the divorce action that I filed for custody and child support and if she does what usually happens? Woud they grant the divorce the day of the hearing and set aside the child support matter and child custody for a later time. Since I filed the complaint on my own if she does infact file a counterclaim can I go ahead and hire an attorney?
If your spouse counterclaims for child custody your custody case will proceed through the court system. The first step in many counties is that you are required to attend a mediation session to attempt to resolve the custody issues. Based on the fact that you and your spouse have been amicable with respect to custody the likely hood that you will reach an agreement seems high.
The divorce will be granted on the date the hearing has been set. The child custody and support will be dealt with down the road and any and all hearings must be properly noticed.
If you ex does indeed file a counterclaim I do recommend that you hire an attorney.