The oldest written complaint is, unsurprisingly, about a customer getting ripped off. It is around 3,800 years old. You can go read it in the British Museum in London, if you can read cuneiform. A law complaint is a bit different, but it has the same effect: it gets your attention, especially with a Virginia divorce.

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Divorce Complaints in Virginia

Throughout this piece, we will assume you are on the receiving end of a divorce, filed by your spouse. Virginia’s court system assumes all Virginians are getting along swimmingly, unless they speak up to the contrary. To file for divorce in the Commonwealth, your spouse’s attorney and your spouse file a complaint with a Circuit Court, signaling discontent in the marriage.

The divorce complaint is notice to the court that your spouse is starting a lawsuit for divorce, in which four people play significant roles:

  1. You, the defendant
  2. Your spouse, the complainant or plaintiff
  3. Your attorney (please, please save your mental anguish and avoid a pro se divorce)
  4. Your spouse’s attorney (though not required, you both should have your own representation)

Remember, in this piece your spouse is suing you for divorce. The roles can be reversed; you would file against your spouse.

Service of Process

We love restaurants and hotels that provide “service with a smile.” Divorce is one service that seldom brings a smile. Service of notice of divorce is not something to lighten most people’s hearts. For the divorce complaint to proceed, a process server or sheriff’s deputy must provide the defendant with notice of the action.

We can do no better than the charmingly confusing definition of service of process provided by Fairfax County’s courts:

  • Service of Process is the exhibition or delivery of a writ, summons and complaint, criminal summons, notice, order, etc., by an authorized person, to a person.

The authorized person will be a sheriff’s deputy or hired, private process server. That authorized person brings the papers to a person, namely you.

Once notice is served that a legal action has been filed against you by your spouse, the clock is ticking. You’ve been served.

21 Days

Okay, it’s not a clock. More like a calendar. But a defendant has 21 days from the day of service to respond to a notice of a lawsuit. Not 21 business days; 21 calendar days. Process serving can happen day or night, weekends or holidays. So the calendar starts the moment the papers end up in the defendant’s hands. Or through the car window. Or under the hotel room door. Wherever.

What is the defendant supposed to do in those 21 days?

As the defendant (your spouse filed for divorce, as the complainant), you have three choices:

  1. Do not respond — completely legitimate for uncontested divorce; the complainant will file for a decision by default
  2. File an Answer to the Complaint — necessary based on six important questions (see them below!)
  3. File an Answer and Counterclaim — your chance to push back against your spouse’s claims

A Counterclaim is your counter-suit for divorce, for reasons different than the ones your spouse mentions. It is the legal equivalent of “You can’t fire me; I quit!”

Should You Respond?

You have a six-question quiz to take. The answers help you and your attorney decide if you should respond at all. Your family law attorney will go through them with you:

  1. Did your marriage produce minor children?
  2. Are the kids’ custody, support, visitation, or paternity subjects of dispute in the lawsuit for divorce?
  3. Does marital property need to be equitably divided?
  4. Does your marriage have debts that also must be equitably divided?
  5. Does a spouse need spousal support now or in the future?
  6. Does the Complaint allege a fault basis (adultery, desertion, cruelty, abandonment, or felony conviction) for divorce?

Divergent Paths

The quiz gives two possible outcomes:

  • If you and your attorney find all six responses to be, “No,” your attorney may advise you to skip the Answer and let an uncontested divorce play out. In that case, your attorney and your spouse’s attorney will huddle up and forge a property settlement agreement. You can leave the complaint unanswered.
  • If any question results in a “Yes” answer, you need to file either an Answer to the Complaint or an Answer and Counterclaim.

In the 21 days, you and your attorney must craft the necessary legal response and file it with the same Circuit Court that received the original lawsuit for divorce. That has to be the one Virginia Circuit Court — out of 120 — with jurisdiction over the divorce, based on either party’s Virginia address.

A copy of the Answer or Answer and Counterclaim also has to wing its way from you (or your attorney) to your spouse. That way, your spouse knows you have advanced the process. The next steps will involve discovery. All of this is far simpler for you when placed in the capable hands of your family law attorney.

Incidentally, that cuneiform complaint was all about rude customer service and paying for something the buyer didn’t get. Same as it ever was.

Stop staring at the calendar and start calling The Firm For Men. Call (757) 383-9184 today, or contact our office online. We can help you in all areas of family law. We work efficiently and respond promptly. Set up your first consultation today!