Oklahoma is a no-fault state for divorce. What that means is that if one party desires a divorce, there is no legal defense to the divorce action. In Oklahoma, if a person wishes to divorce their spouse, a lawsuit is filed for a dissolution of the marriage. The most common grounds for divorce pled in the divorce petition is "irreconcilable differences", although the statues allow many other grounds to be alleged.
In a divorce action, there are several considerations that must be addressed before the Court can dissolve the marriage. The first issue that must be addressed is to determine whether the parties are married. Oklahoma is one of the few states that recognize Common Law marriage along with the ceremonial marriage. Generally stated, a common law marriage arises when the people agree to be married and hold themselves out the the public as being husband and wife.
Once the marriage has been established and the divorce is requested, either party can ask for temporary orders. The Court will issue orders pertaining to temporary custody of the children, temporary child support, temporary support alimony, temporary control of the marital residence and other property such as cars, and temporary orders of debt division. These orders will remain in effect until a final decree is entered or until the temporary orders are modified. Most marriages involving children will require this type of proceeding so that the children are not having their lives impacted any more than is absolutely necessary.
For final divorce considerations, the Courts in Oklahoma will make final findings regarding custody of the child(ren), child support amounts, property and debt division, support alimony, and a possible award of attorney fees to be paid by one party to another party. When determining child custody in a divorce action, the Court will always follow the "best interests of the child". The Court reviews evidence from both parents and places the child with whichever parent best suits the child. There is very little statutory guidance, and the trial Court is left with an enormous amount of discretion when making this determination.
The child support amounts are set by statutory formula and the trial court will not generally deviate from those guidelines unless they have a specific reason or both parties, being represented by counsel, agree to deviate from the guideline amount. Property and debt of the marriage are divided equitably between the parties. This does not necessarily mean equally, but many Courts start at an equal division and allow the parties to present evidence why such division is not equitable.
The Ritchie Law Firm divorce attorneys have over 15 years of experience representing clients in divorce cases. The Firm's primary geographical practice area for divorce law includes; Mayes County Oklahoma, Rogers County Oklahoma, Delaware County Oklahoma, Craig County Oklahoma, Muskogee County Oklahoma, Wagoner County Oklahoma, Tulsa County Oklahoma, and Creek County Oklahoma. The Firm handles selected divorce cases in other counties throughout the state of Oklahoma on a case by case basis.
Support Alimony has many different factors which are taken into account when determining if it is necessary and how much would be necessary and questions regarding such should be addressed with legal counsel. In some circumstances, the court can order one party to pay another party's legal fees. This determination involves many factors which should also be addressed with legal counsel.