If you’re a Utah resident getting ready to petition for divorce, you may be wondering what to do first – and how your experience will unfold after that first big step. That’s why Hello Divorce is here: To guide you through a divorce that costs less money and causes less stress than the “traditional” divorce you’ve heard about from friends or watched on TV.
How to file for divorce in Utah: Your first big step
As the petitioner, your first big step toward an uncontested divorce may be serving a Petition for Divorce on your spouse. The petition must be served in person, through registered mail, or by another means approved by the Utah State Court.
Note: There’s an exception to the rule that you must serve a petition on your spouse. If your divorce is an uncontested one – both of you agree to the divorce and how to divide all marital assets – you can ask your spouse to sign a stipulation. If they sign a stipulation, you don’t have to formally serve a petition.
If your spouse is not amenable to an uncontested divorce, a string of paperwork must now follow, including an Acceptance of Service from your spouse, a formal summons from you, an Answer from your spouse, and more.
For a complete list of Utah divorce forms with links, click here.
Watch: Guide to Completing a Divorce Petition in Utah | Hello Divorce Explains
Getting an uncontested divorce in Utah
If you and your spouse concur that divorce is the right path and agree to all divorce terms (how to split property, whether one spouse will receive alimony, who will have child custody, etc.), you can get an uncontested divorce, which is cheaper and easier than the type of high-stress contested divorce you’ve probably seen in movies (like Marriage Story).
To do this, the two of you will need to agree on grounds for divorce. In the case of uncontested divorce in Utah, this is simply referred to as “irreconcilable differences.”
You’ll also have to meet Utah’s divorce residency requirement, which dictates that one of you must have lived in your filing county file for a minimum of three months before you file.
Can you file for divorce without a lawyer in Utah?
You can file for divorce without a lawyer in Utah. In fact, if the terms of your case are uncontested by both spouses, you can file for divorce online.
Two main options exist:
- Take advantage of the Utah State Court Online Court Assistance Program (OCAP) to file for divorce online.
- File for uncontested divorce online using one of Hello Divorce’s affordable membership plans.
At Hello Divorce, we’re well aware of the high cost of divorce – traditional divorce, that is. You could spend thousands of dollars hiring an attorney who commands a $500 per hour rate. Or, to save money, you could try to do it all yourself with no guidance via the Utah State Court’s website.
Or, you could partner with Hello Divorce and get the help you need at an affordable flat rate.
In addition to our low-cost paid memberships, we offer lots of free sources for our readers, including checklists to prepare for big life changes and informational articles that help you bounce back after divorce, like our article How to Change Your Name in Utah after Divorce.
The choice is yours: Who will you hire to help you make it to the other side of this ordeal? To help you decide, we offer all prospective members a free 15-minute phone consultation where you can ask questions, gather information, share your story, and get feedback from a caring and experienced professional who has helped hundreds of other clients in your shoes.
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