The only way to get a divorce in North Carolina is to submit the proper documents to the court.
Contrarily, if you just live apart from your spouse and intend to continue, you can obtain a legal separation from them.
According to North Carolina law, you can only get a divorce if you’ve been apart for a year or if one of the parties has incurable insanity and you’ve been apart for three years. If you or your spouse wants to file for divorce on the grounds of a year of separation, you must also satisfy a residence requirement by residing in North Carolina for at least six months.
What Documentation is Required to File for Divorce?
You must submit a Complaint for Divorce, a Domestic Civil Action Cover Sheet, and a Civil Summons to the court in order to start a divorce case. The other two documents are forms you can get from the court, but you will need to write your complaint. You must next serve your spouse with the complaint and summons after you have filed these documents.
Separate Property vs. Marital Property
Because North Carolina is an equitable property state, any marital assets will be distributed fairly rather than equally between you and your spouse.
Most of the assets and property you and your spouse accumulated while you were married is referred to as marital property. Nevertheless, separate property will not be divided fairly from the rest of your property and assets.
To qualify as separate property, it must have been:
- Received as an inheritance or gift (by one spouse only)
- Purchased before getting married
- A professional or commercial license that one of the spouses has obtained
- Exchanged for another piece of independent property to acquire
- Revenue that comes just from separate property
What Must I Do If Children Are Involved?
You and your spouse will make the initial decision about child support and custody for any children you may have. However, suppose you and your spouse disagree over custody. In that case, the court will be tasked with deciding by considering which parent is the best suitable to be the child’s custodian and what is in the child’s best interests.
The child’s education, age, choice, and relationship with each parent will all be taken into consideration by the court.
The best course of action is to resolve the issue along with everything else during the divorce proceedings. However, you can decide on child support and custody in a separate court proceeding, but doing so will likely cost at least $3,000 to hire a lawyer specifically to handle those issues.
Who Must Pay Child Support Under Carolina Family Law?
The parent that the child lives with is referred to as the “custodial parent” in a conventional child custody arrangement. The parent without custody is frequently referred to as the “non-custodial parent.” The rights that each parent is entitled to depend on local, state, and federal laws.
Child support is typically needed from the non-custodial parent to be paid to the other parent to lessen the financial burden of raising a kid. The custodial parent may be responsible for the child’s upbringing and incur more expenses.
Child support may be necessary primarily for this reason in the event of a divorce or legal separation. The court will consider joint custody when determining how much child support must be paid each month.
How is Child Support Determined?
The court must make numerous decisions and take into account a variety of circumstances while calculating child support.
Some of the elements that are frequently considered while determining child support include:
- Income of each parent, including any spouses or any dependents;
- Whether there are any additional siblings involved in the custody agreement
- Age and the child’s needs
When both parents are granted custody of a kid, the child support arrangement should also consider it.
Extracurricular activities, along with any special needs, educational or academic requirements, and other fees, may also be considered.
The non-custodial parent may frequently struggle to make child support payments. The court might consider this and modify the child support obligations. The court may take additional measures to recover the payment amounts if payments still need to be made on schedule.
How Do I File a Child Support Petition in North Carolina?
You can request child support in North Carolina either in civil court or through the Division of Social Services.
Because both parents are required by law to support their children even in the absence of a child support order, you also have the choice to submit your case in criminal court. However, you must demonstrate that the other parent is purposefully failing to provide for the child to bring a criminal action without a child support order.
The names and addresses of both parents and the child’s name, birthdate, and address are some of the details you’ll need when you file for child support. You must also tell the court whether joint custody will be granted or if one parent will have main custody.
Suppose I Decide not to Provide Child Support?
If you don’t pay child support, several various things could happen. The first penalty is wage garnishment, in which the state deducts money from your paycheck. Therefore, a predetermined sum will be automatically deducted from your salary. You won’t be able to choose the amount, the timing of the deduction, or whether you can keep your entire paycheck.
If your wage garnishment is insufficient, the state may deprive you of personal or real property or deduct the debt from your tax refund. Additionally, you risk losing your license and getting arrested.
In the end, if you don’t pay the child support the court ordered, you risk being charged with contempt of court and put in jail.
It is crucial to notify the court as soon as possible if you find yourself unable to pay child support because of a job loss, expensive medical bills, or other significant life circumstances. Avoid hoping that a lack of child support payments will go unnoticed by waiting.
Should I Pay Alimony?
North Carolina might require the supporting spouse to pay alimony to the dependent spouse if one spouse was financially reliant on the other.
Additionally, if a spouse engaged in adultery—having illicit connections with someone other than their spouse before a separation—they will be obliged to pay alimony.
In contrast, a spouse who commits adultery is not eligible for alimony. The amount of alimony to be paid, if any, in the case that both spouses committed the court will decide adultery. The court will examine the contributions each spouse made to the marriage, their ages and health, and the length of the marriage when deciding how much alimony should be awarded.
The court may order that alimony payments terminate on a specific date upon either spouse’s passing, the dependent spouse’s remarriage, or the dependent spouse’s cohabitation with a new partner.
Where Can I Find the Best Divorce Attorney?
It can be quite challenging to decide how to divide a life you spent years creating with your spouse. You can get assistance from a divorce attorney in North Carolina in settling disputes over child support, child custody, and asset partition.
