My husband and I have been married over 12 years. We got married in Vegas and have lived in California almost the whole time since.
We do not have any children. I do not want alimony/spousal support. We are amicable and agreeing to a divorce and we will remain friends. It won't be messy whatsoever, he is fine with handling the bills and I am moving back to my home country & taking some of my items, he can keep the rest. We are really easy going about it.
We want to make this as least messy as possible. Over and done with quick & easy as possible. Not sure who is filing, that depends on the answer to my question...
While the effective date of the dissolution of marriage judgment has to be at least 6 months after the petition has been served on the respondent, this does not mean that you cannot submit all the required paperwork sooner. It just means that the entry of judgment date will be no sooner than when the 6-months period is over. Although you don't have to be present for the divorce to become final, I would recommend that you stay until all the documents have been submitted to the court for filing and you know there are no problems. It does not really matter who files as long as it does not matter to you whether you are the Petitioner or the Respondent.
You and your husband are to be commended for the adult manner you are approaching this. That being said, you need to make sure all the forms are completed and submitted to the court before you leave the country. If you do this by default judgment, then the default and default Judgment can be submitted after 30 days from service on the non-appearing party.
As for time, it takes a minimum of 6 months from the date of service on the Respondent to obtain a divorce in California. Note, however, that the courts have a backlog in processing Judgments and it may take 4 to 6 months from the date you submit the Judgment to the court before the court signs the Judgment and your marriage terminated. if, for any reason your forms are rejected by the court, that adds additional time for processing your divorce.
I would suggest that husband file if he is remaining in CA because there is a paper process: forms have to be completed and filed after the initial filing of the Petition to actually get the Judgment.
You don't need to be here. You will find if worth while to get some solid input even though you are (wisely) avoiding conflict, as you will get it all right, easily, that way.
