A person considering divorce may disagree with their spouse about many personal issues. In some cases, they may even disagree about whether the marriage is worth preserving.
Some people fight desperately to salvage their failing marriages. Others have religious beliefs that make them opposed to divorce or simply don’t want to end the marriage.
People hoping to exit unhealthy or unsatisfying marriages often worry about their spouses fighting them throughout that process. Can one spouse prevent the other from pursuing a divorce?
Either spouse can initiate divorce without the other
Marriage is a lifetime commitment that requires the ongoing consent of both parties. Either spouse can make the decision to terminate the marriage and does not require the consent of the other spouse to legally divorce.
The person who decides to divorce files a petition with the courts and then provides legal service to the other spouse. After receiving divorce paperwork in California, the responding spouse has 30 days to accept the proposed terms or counter them.
If they do not respond, then the filing spouse can ask the courts to move forward with default proceedings. If they challenge the proposed terms, then the spouses move forward with negotiations and possibly with divorce litigation.
The courts can grant a divorce at the request of either spouse, regardless of the feelings of the other spouse. The law does not allow one spouse to trap the other in an unwanted marriage.
The filing spouse can move forward after making their decision without the fear of the other spouse blocking their attempts to end the marriage. Learning more about the regulations that govern divorce proceedings can help people file with confidence.