Your Guide to Voluntary Dismissal When You’ve Had a Change of Heart
Most couples who decide to divorce don’t reach the decision easily – or take it lightly. It’s typically a decision arrived at when no other solution to the difficulties in the marriage has worked. Many think of this heavy, hard decision as being one that is irreversible – and after a divorce is finalized, that’s true. However, couples should know that before the entry of the final divorce decree, they do have the opportunity to change their minds.
While it may not happen often, the truth is that even when divorce does initially seem like the best option, sometimes a couple later realizes that maybe it isn’t – for any number of reasons there might be a change of heart. It’s possible that you were able to make progress, with effort and help from counselors, to work through the issues that made divorce seem necessary. Perhaps both husband and wife feel renewed hope and faith in each other, and in the possibility of saving the marriage. Maybe, as the divorce process began moving along, you’re simply having some second thoughts and want to wait and see how you might feel in the future.
In other cases, it may not be a change of heart as much as it is a need to delay the divorce for practical reasons. It could be that as a couple, you feel it’s best to delay the divorce until your children reach a certain age. Perhaps, as a couple, you can afford to pay the bills, but once separated, it will be difficult for you to make two sets of house and utility payments, and you would rather wait until you’re in a better place financially to make the split official. It could be that one spouse is attempting to finish law school or medical school, and you’re waiting until that happens to move forward.
Whatever the case may be, couples do find themselves asking – how can we stop our divorce from going forward? Fortunately, North Carolina courts are very flexible and generous when it comes to the rights of parties to choose to voluntarily dismiss the legal actions they have initiated. Moreover, because North Carolina law requires both a six-month residency requirement and a one-year separation period prior to divorce, couples have plenty of time to think it over.
During the one-year separation and six-month residency time periods that are required under North Carolina law, a couple can reconsider their decision to divorce without any legal ramifications or requirements at all, as the divorce petition will not yet have been filed. After the petition has been filed, however, the law provides that the petitioner (the spouse who filed the initial divorce petition) can dismiss his or her case by “filing a notice of dismissal at any time before the petitioner rests his (or her) case.” This essentially means that at any time before the moment that all evidence has been submitted, the divorce petition can be withdrawn.
To have your divorce action voluntarily dismissed, you’ll need to take these three steps:
- Ask your attorney to draft a motion for voluntary dismissal. Depending upon the particular circumstances of your case, this can be done only by the petitioner spouse, or by both spouses together. As with any legal matter, having the assistance of a knowledgeable and experienced attorney is essential to ensuring that your legal matters are resolved efficiently and effectively – and that unintended mistakes don’t cause unwanted consequences.
- File the motion for voluntary dismissal in the county court in North Carolina where the divorce action was initially filed.
- Pay any court fees and costs incurred for the divorce up and until the point that the petition for voluntary dismissal is granted, and pay any outstanding attorney fees as well.
The process is a fairly simple one insofar as legal matters are concerned, and compared to other states, by allowing the petition to be withdrawn at any time until the case is submitted for decision, North Carolina allows far more time for reconsideration and a change of heart when it comes to divorce. It is important to remember, however, that simply filing a petition for voluntary dismissal doesn’t necessarily terminate the divorce proceedings entirely. In some cases, one spouse may have filed for the divorce proceedings initially, but the other spouse may have filed a cross-petition for any number of reasons. If this is the case, for the case to be dismissed in its entirety, both spouses will need to agree, and present a motion for voluntary dismissal of all claims together.
It’s also important to remember that filing for a voluntary dismissal does not in any way prevent a couple from deciding to file for divorce again in the future. If you do have another change of heart and decide that divorce is best after all, you can proceed with it – you’ll simply most likely have to begin at the start of the legal process again and move forward from there. Whatever decision you ultimately make, at The Law Office of Dustin McCrary, we’re here to help you through it.
Call The Law Office of Dustin McCrary Today
If you are in the midst of the divorce process and you need assistance with obtaining a voluntary dismissal – or with any other aspect of the divorce process – at The Law Office of Dustin McCrary, we’re here for you. We specialize in helping our clients move through all aspects of the divorce process as smoothly and successfully as possible, and toward the next new chapter of their lives – whatever it may be. We would be honored to have the opportunity to help you too. Call us at any time. We look forward to speaking with you soon.