What Are the First Steps Someone Needs to Take After Being Served with Divorce Papers?

Staying calm is important to do right away because, a lot of times, people are really taken aback; they're angry, they're hurt, and there's a lot of emotions. Give yourself a moment without reacting. I always advise that people should speak with a family law attorney, ideally more than one, just to simply ascertain your rights, your obligations, and get a basic education on family law. There's a lot of nuances in family law that most people don’t know when they get married.

You don’t ultimately have to be represented by an attorney; you can represent yourself, you can retain counsel. But it's always a good idea to get a little bit of an understanding as to what's going to happen in this divorce process and what are the steps that need to take place. A person should be aware that they have about 30 days to respond once they're served. There is some timeliness to this that needs to be taken into consideration as well.