Legal Advice Needed - Divorce in WA State

[joelmold]

Ok, to make a long story short, my wife and I separated about 2 months ago and we're going to get a divorce. Nothing happened, we just decided we were better friends than spouses and we probably shouldn't have gotten married in the first place.

Everything is still pretty friendly between us and I'd like to keep it that way if possible. However, neither of us really knows the laws concerning divorce in Washington State. I tried looking up info on the net, but got a lot of crap and a lot of stuff I couldn't understand. Any lawyers (or anyone) out there that could offer some advice or point me towards some resources I would greatly appreciate it.

The facts: We got married in California in April of 2002. We moved to Washington in June 2002 and were married just over a year before we separated. We are not legally separated, however. She still lives in WA State, I have since moved back to CA State. We're young so we don't have a lot of assets, and we don't have kids (thank god!). Like I said, we are still friends (for now) and would both like to keep it friendly.

My major questions:

1.) Do we need to go to court with a lawyer, or can we do everything through arbitration?

2.) How do we divide our assets? I know there are laws concerning this. Can we divide our stuff ourselves, or does the court have to do this?

3.) Concerning our liabilities. We both have a little credit card debt and we both have school loans (she is still in school and still taking out loans). Are we liable at all for each other's debt? She's in grad school and has about 30k in loans, so my real question is, am I liable for her school loans?

4.) How much should all this cost and how long should it take?

5.) Anything else I need to watch out for or need to know about?

Thanks a lot guys and gals, I really appreciate any help you can offer!

Joel
joelmold@msn.com

 

[Eli]

That's not very short.

 

[conjur]

As much as you all can agree upon, in writing, before going to arbitration will make things all that much smoother and cheaper for you.

 

[joelmold]

Thanks Conjur. So should we type up a doc listing our major assets and what will go to who? Can we do that?

Does it work the same for debt? Can we just agree in writing that we're not responsible for each others debt and that's it?

Thanks for the replies and keep 'em coming!

joel

 

[iwearnosox]

1) Give her everything
2) Promise her half of your future everything
3) Use other half of future everything to find new girl
4) Repeat

 

[joelmold]

Ok, surely someone here has gone through a divorce in WA! Any suggestions are very welcome!

Thank you,

joel

 

[DorkBoy]

If you 2 remain friends you both can do everything together without a lawyer. You can file and divorce on your own, just pay whatever the court costs are, I doubt it's over $250.00. Atleast I know this is true in NC and can't believe other states can't be far off.

Goodluck and remember to stay her friend until it's over if you can't forever.

 

[joelmold]

Anyone else?

 

[Ulfwald]

If you own a house, sell it, split the equity after all joint credit is paid off. She takes her student loans, and you take yours. You each carry the debt for the respective vehicles you get.

 

[AnyMal]

It's called "uncontested divorce" meaning both parties agreed to a "property settlement". If you go that route, you'll only need a lawyer to draft the document for you, both of you will sign the settlement in front of the court clerk, and in few months you'er free to start over.

 

[joelmold]

Don't own a house so that's not an issue.

Sounds like uncontested is the way to go. Thanks for the info, I'll look more into it.

joel

 

[TommyVercetti]

Wrong forum to ask this question in. Most of us are college students, who haven't gone through the marriage phase yet.

 

[TekChik]

I went thru a divorce in Maryland and it was the same situation - uncontested w/few assets and no kids. I just looked in a local paper, found some of those cheapy lawyer ads, called a few and went w/the lowest priced one. I never even had to go to court, but I didn't have to do all the paperwork myself, either. It cost me around $500 when all was said and done. That's what I would recommend. Yes, it's cheaper to do it yourself, but it takes a lot of time and effort. These cheapy lawyers make their money doing this en mass and they are experts at it - just let them do it and save yourself a lot of headaches. You'll be calling them anyway to figure out how to do all the paperwork...LOL.

Good Luck!

 

[minendo]

Originally posted by: TommyVercetti
Wrong forum to ask this question in. Most of us are college students, who haven't gone through the marriage phase yet.

He seems to be getting plenty of helpful tips here so take your crap elsewhere.

 

[joelmold]

Originally posted by: TekChik
I went thru a divorce in Maryland and it was the same situation - uncontested w/few assets and no kids. I just looked in a local paper, found some of those cheapy lawyer ads, called a few and went w/the lowest priced one.

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to look into it some more about doing it myself, I have a few friends in law school that might be able to help me draft all the legal stuff. That's cheaper than I expected though to hire a lawyer, so that might be a good option too...

Thanks for all the help,

joel

 

[joelmold]

Ok, found this news story that talks about uncontested divorce in WA. Apparently there is a county in WA that even does divorce by mail with no court appearance required! Plus it's cheap, like $140. I know maybe I shouldn't be getting excited about this, but we both agree it's what's best for both of us. There is a 90 day waiting period though, mandated by the state.

News Story

Now I just need to figure out where to get the forms I need and info on how to get started. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks,

joel