by Cheryl Bowman

Created on: January 04, 2009   Last Updated: October 30, 2010

There are two different types of divorce - contested and uncontested. Either way, divorce is stressful for all parties involved, especially children. Children do not care if the divorce is amicable or not - they just see their parents splitting up.

Depending on the state you are in, a divorce may be "no fault." A no fault state does not look at reasons for divorce. The divorce is granted whether one party wants it or not. Some states, such as Florida, have no fault divorce, but the Court may look to certain faults in awarding alimony or spousal support. A state that is not "no fault" looks at the reasons two people are getting divorced, and the Court's ruling is based somewhat on the actions of one or the other spouse. Sometimes the actions of both spouses may cancel each other out.

Once it is determined which set of rules (fault or no fault) your state follows, you must then choose what kind of divorce you want. An uncontested divorce means that both parties agree to get divorced without fighting over issues such as custody, visitation, child support or alimony. An agreement is drawn up between the parties. The parties can tell the Court what they want, or they can have an attorney draft an agreement for the parties. An agreement will generally spell out who gets the children and who has visitation if children are involved, what days are visiting days for the non-custodial parent, how much child support is ordered (most states have a formula based on the parties' incomes for determining child support), how much alimony shall be paid (if any) and who gets what as far as assets and liabilities. An uncontested divorce generally moves through the system faster than a contested divorce, and less documentation from the parties is required.

Even in an uncontested divorce, if the Court does not think the agreement is fair, it will not ratify the agreement and order the parties to come up with a better agreement, though this rarely happens, unless the agreement was not drafted by an attorney and is extremely one-sided.

A contested divorce takes quite some time to go through the Court system, especially if the parties cannot agree on anything and they are always filing motions with the Court. Motions can include requests for temporary custody and child support, temporary spousal support and temporary attorney's fees and costs, among other things.

The basic steps in a contested divorce include the filing of a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage against the other spouse,

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