As you head to court to get a divorce, you may feel like you have to ask the judge to grant that divorce, and then they make a ruling about whether or not they’re going to allow it. This implies that the judge could also deny your divorce and force you to stay married.
In reality, the courts will almost always grant a divorce, and it’s not really about asking for the court’s permission. What you’re doing is essentially filing your divorce petition and asking the court to help you and your spouse move through the process. It’s understood that you may not be able to decide how to divide assets or time with your kids, so the court can assist you to do so, but they’re usually not going to tell you that you can’t get divorced.
Why can a temporary denial be used?
There are some cases in which a court may deny you on a temporary basis. Usually, it just means that you made some sort of procedural mistake.
For instance, you need to serve your spouse with divorce papers and meet specific deadlines. If you never served those papers or failed to meet the deadlines, you may not be able to get a divorce yet.
Another reason could be if you’re not eligible to file for divorce. Maybe you just moved and are not yet a resident, or maybe there’s reason to believe that fraud is involved with your divorce filing. The court may temporarily delay this process while they try to sort out the details, or you may have to wait until you meet the residency regulations so that you can file.
In general, though, you can always get a divorce if you want one. You just need to know what legal steps to take.