Being served with documents is scary, whether it’s a civil lawsuit, lien, or traffic ticket you haven’t paid. These types of legal documents have to be delivered to you in a certain way, called “serving.” Whether you want it or not, if your spouse wants to divorce you, dodging a server won’t make a divorce not happen, so let’s just get through your divorce, and you can be on your way to healing and thriving soon.
Being served with documents is scary, whether it’s a civil lawsuit, lien, or traffic ticket you haven’t paid. These types of legal documents have to be delivered in a certain way, called “being served.” In Utah when you’re filing for divorce, the rules of civil procedure require that divorce documents be delivered to your spouse in a certain way.
As a divorce firm, we use a third-party process company that serves documents for us/our client. The timelines don’t start until this official service happens. This will need to happen whether you have hired attorneys or you are doing your own divorce.
I get that this might feel scary if someone is trying to serve documents to you. But it’s usually better to just accept the service from a server, before it becomes a police officer at your door with a warrant to arrest you for something that may have just been a minor fine or something.
Accepting the documents starts the process. In Utah, you will have 21 days from date of service to respond to those documents. You will often get a summons, which will give you exact instructions on where to appear at court or how to answer the document.
I get that it’s hard to accept the official process of a divorce starting. It’s a big emotional and mental toll. Hire an attorney so you don’t feel alone and confused by the legal process and find a therapist to help you cope. Whether you want it or not, if your spouse wants to divorce you, dodging a server won’t make a divorce not happen. It may delay it for a couple days. But ignoring or being in denial that it’s happening just prolongs the divorce grief cycle you’ll go through. Let’s just get through your divorce; you can do it. There is life after divorce.