Which Divorce Form: Father is not the Husband?
From Ame from Century, Florida, Escambia County
Husband went to prison in 2002. We have not lived together in 13 years. I had 2 kids with other men, can I file divorce without property and children or do I have to file dissolution of marriage with children. We have no property assets or any ties to each other and he’s not my minor children’s father. I have paper from child support state of Florida stating he’s not the father. Can I file myself and how should I file myself I have 3 sets of divorce papers. Please help.
Answer:
First of all, yes you can file by yourself, it is called Pro Se. This is something that many people do successfully every day. As a Pro Se filer, however, the wading through the legal forms can be quite cumbersome. Since your children are not the biological children of your soon to be ex then you are required to file for a dissolution with children, assuming that your children were born during the marriage. For more information on which divorce procedure to use, take a look at this Florida divorce forms page. You will have to make sure that it is clear that the children are not his biological kids though. On the financial affidavit, I have found it easier to put children’s expenses in an ‘other’ category so that it doesn’t trigger a conflict with the dissolution petition. It wasn’t clear if your Husband is still in prison or not. If he is still in prison, serving him the papers will be quite easy, but sometimes takes a little longer since your process server may need to make an appointment with the security of the prison. If he is not in prison, it will be very important that you know where he lives in order to serve him. The best scenario, however, would be to communicate with him directly so that you can file together, have all the documents signed in agreement and get the final judgment of dissolution very quickly.
