Idaho Divorce Law Residency Requirements for Divorce in Idaho

The spouse filing for divorce must have been a resident of Idaho for 6 full weeks immediately prior to filing for divorce. The divorce should be filed in: (1) the county where the defendant resides or (2) if the defendant is not a resident of Idaho, the county where the plaintiff resides or designates in the complaint.
[Idaho Code; Title 5, Chapter 404 and Title 32, Chapter 701].

Legal Grounds for Divorce in Idaho

  1. No Fault Divorce:
    1. Irreconcilable differences
    2. Living separate and apart without cohabitation for a period of 5 years
    [Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 603 and 610].
  2. General Divorce:
    1. Adultery
    2. Permanent insanity
  1. Conviction of a felony
  2. Willful desertion
  3. Extreme cruelty
  4. Willful neglect
  5. Habitual intemperance (drunkenness)
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 603 to 610].

Legal Separation in Idaho
There is no legal provision in Idaho for legal court-ordered separation. However, the spouses may live separate and apart.
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapter 610].

Simplified/Special Divorce Procedures in Idaho
Divorces may be granted upon the default of the defendant. In addition, marital settlement agreements are specifically authorized. They must be in writing and notarized in the same manner as deeds. If the marital settlement agreement has any provisions which concern real estate, it must be recorded in the county recorder's office.
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 917 and 918].

Divorce Mediation or Counseling Requirements
There is a mandatory 20-day delay in the granting of all divorces, unless there is an agreement by the spouses. During this period, either spouse may request that there be a meeting held to determine if there is any practical chance for reconciliation. If there is determined to be a chance for reconciliation and there are minor children of the marriage, the court may delay the proceedings for up to 90 days for an attempt at reconciliation.
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapter 716].

Divorce Property Distribution
Idaho is a "community property" state. Each spouse's separate property consists of:

1. all property acquired prior to the marriage
2. property acquired by gift either before or during the marriage
3. property acquired by individual gift before or during the marriage

The court will divide all other property (the community property) of the spouses in a substantially equal manner, unless there are compelling reasons to provide otherwise. The court will consider the following factors:

1. Any marital misconduct
2. The length of the marriage
3. The age and health of the spouses
4. The occupation of the spouses
5. The amount and sources of income of the spouses
6. The vocational skills of the spouses
7. The employability of the spouses
8. Any premarital agreement
9. The present and potential earning capability of each spouse
10. Any retirement benefits, including social security, civil service, military and railroad retirement benefits
11. The liabilities of the spouses
12. The needs of the spouses
13. Whether the property award is instead of or in addition to maintenance

[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 712 and 903 to 919].

Alimony and Spousal Support
The court may award maintenance to a spouse, if that spouse:

1. Lacks sufficient property to provide for his or her reasonable needs
2. Is unable to support himself or herself through employment

The award of maintenance is based on the following factors:

1. The time necessary to acquire sufficient education and training to enable the spouse to find appropriate employment
2. The duration of the marriage
3. The ability of the spouse from whom support is sought to meet his or her needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking support
4. The financial resources of the spouse seeking maintenance, including marital property apportioned to such spouse and such spouse's ability to meet his or her needs independently
5. The tax consequences to each spouse
6. The age of the spouses
7. the physical and emotional conditions of the spouses
8. The fault of either party

[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapter 705].

Spouse's Name After Divorce
There is no legal provision in Idaho for restoration of a spouse's name upon divorce. However, there is a general statutory provision that allows a person to apply for a name change by petition to the court.
[Idaho Code; Title 7, Chapter 801-4].

Child Custody After Divorce
Joint or sole child custody may be awarded according to the best interests of the child, and based on the following factors:

1. The preference of the child
2. The wishes of the parents
3. The character and circumstances of all individuals involved
4. The relationship of the child with parents, siblings, and other significant family members
5. The child's adjustment to his or her home, school, and community
6. A need to promote continuity and stability in the life of the child
7. Domestic violence, whether or not in the presence of the child

Joint custody is allowed if it can be arranged to assure the child with frequent and continuing contact with both parents. Unless shown otherwise, it is presumed that joint custody is in the best interests of the child.
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 717 and 717B and Title 39, Chapter 6303].

Child Support After Divorce
The court may order either or both parents to provide child support until the child is 18, without regard to marital misconduct, and based upon the following factors:

1. The financial resources of the child
2. The standard of living the child would have enjoyed if the marriage had not been dissolved
3. the physical and emotional conditions and educational needs of the child
4. the financial resources, needs, and obligations of both the noncustodial and the custodial parent (normally, not including the parent's community property share of the financial resources or obligations with a new spouse)
5. The availability of reasonable medical insurance coverage for the child
6. The actual tax benefits achieved by the parent claiming the federal dependency exemption for income tax purposes

There are provisions in Idaho for child support payments to be paid to the clerk of the court unless otherwise ordered by the court. There are specific child support guidelines adopted by the Idaho Supreme Court which are presumed to be correct unless evidence is presented that shows that the award would be inappropriate or unjust. Finally, all child support orders issued in Idaho must contain provisions allowing enforcement of the order by income withholding.
[Idaho Code; Title 32, Chapters 706, 706A, and 1201+].

Continue to Illinois Divorce Laws
 
Resource Article:

The Emotional Roller Coaster of Divorce
By By Pauline H. Tesler, M.A., J.D., & Peggy Thompson, Ph.D.
Jun 8, 2006, Thu, 8 Jun 2006 14:15

Divorce is an emotional task unlike any other in modern society, and different people experience it in different ways. While some individuals go through nearly all of the extreme emotional states that we describe here, others have an easier time getting through this period and will maneuver these choppy waters with more skill. The important thing to remember is that all the emotions we discuss are normal, but while some are readily acknowledged by the people experiencing them, others are so uncomfortable that it's difficult even to admit they exist. The wide array of emotional states that many people experience during the early stages of the divorce process can diminish their capacity to think clearly, impair their judgment, and make rational decision making difficult or impossible.

Grief and Sorrow

Being sad when a marriage ends is natural. Although it's painful, grief is a healthy emotional response to the loss of an important relationship. We are hardwired to feel it, and it wouldn't be reasonable to expect otherwise. While sorrow and grief can be very hard to handle, most people do understand and accept the inevitability of these feelings.

We know from research, theoretical writings, and personal experience with thousands of people going through divorces that though the emotional impact of a divorce is as severe as that of a death in the immediate family, the grief and recovery process does have a beginning, middle, and end. Though they may seem endless, the pain and confusion surrounding separation and divorce do gradually lighten and finally go away -- for most people over a period of eighteen months to three or four years following the marital separation, though recovery can be quicker or slower.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the hospice movement, first described the stages of grieving about and recovering from a major trauma such as death or divorce:

* Denial: "This is not happening to me. It's all a misunderstanding. It's just a midlife crisis. We can work it out."
* Anger and resentment: "How can he [she] do this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this? This is not fair!"
* Bargaining: "If you'll stay, I'll change" or "If I agree to do it [money, childrearing, sex, whatever] your way, can we get back together?"
* Depression: "This is really happening, I can't do anything about it, and I don't think I can bear it."
* Acceptance: "Okay, this is how it is, and I'd rather accept it and move on than wallow in the past."

Understanding these stages can be very helpful when it comes to talking about divorce and decision making. It's important to know that when you are in the early stages of this grief and recovery process, it can be challenging to think clearly or to make decisions at all, much less to make them well. Identifying your present stage of grief and being aware of it is an important step toward ensuring that you will make the best choices you can.

Guilt and Shame

Experiencing guilt and shame is also a normal reaction to the end of a marriage. These feelings arise when we feel a sense of failure -- of not having fulfilled our own or our community's expectations. In the case of divorce, people often feel guilt and/or shame because they have failed to stay married for life. That's partly a matter of personal expectations -- not fulfilling the promises made to a spouse -- and also partly a matter of not fulfilling what our culture seems to expect from us. If our culture's expectations about marriage and divorce are reasonable -- if they fit well with how people actually behave in that culture -- and we don't measure up, the guilt and shame felt at the time of divorce may be appropriate. If the culture's expectations don't match well with the reality of marriage and divorce as people actually live it, the guilt and shame can be much more problematic -- difficult to see clearly, difficult to acknowledge, difficult to manage in a divorce. In addition, there are some marriages in which one or both partners have engaged in extremes of betrayal, deceit, or even criminal behavior that almost always involve feelings of guilt and shame.

Regardless of whether the feelings arise from not having met one's own or the culture's ideals or from actual wrongdoing, we know that for many individuals, guilt and shame can be so painful that they change very quickly into other, more tolerable feelings, such as anger or depression -- often without the person's even knowing that the guilt and shame are there. This is why it is so common in divorce for each partner to blame the other and why it can be so difficult for divorcing partners to accept responsibility for their own part in a failed marriage.

We've encountered few divorcing people who find it easy to see or accept their own feelings of guilt and shame. These powerfully negative feelings often remain under the radar, hidden and invisible, where they do the most harm. Strong feelings of guilt or shame can make it difficult or impossible to take in more balanced information, to maintain your perspective, and to consider realistically your best alternatives for how to resolve problems.

Guilt can cause spouses to feel they have no right to ask for what they need in a divorce, causing them to negotiate unbalanced, unrealistic settlements they later regret. Family lawyers have a saying that "guilt has a short half-life," and because guilt is such an uncomfortable feeling, it can easily transform into anger. We often see people who have negotiated guilt-driven agreements having second thoughts and going back to court to try to set aside imprudent settlements.

Similarly, shame often transforms into blame, anger, or rage directed at the spouse. Bitter fights over children or property can be propelled by feelings like these, because modern divorces seldom brand either partner as Snow White or Hitler, Prince Charming or the Wicked Witch, and therefore the anger, which needs to go somewhere, goes into fights over matters that courts are permitted to make orders about.

Fear and Anxiety

Fear and anxiety are common because of our hardwired "fight-or-flight" instinct. Our bodies react to stresses (such as an angry phone call from a spouse) by using physical alarm mechanisms that haven't changed since our ancestors had to react instantly to avoid being eaten by saber-toothed tigers. You react to stress physiologically in the following ways:

* Your heart speeds up, and adrenaline pours into your bloodstream
* Your adrenaline makes your heart contract more forcefully and may cause you to feel a pounding sensation in your head
* You may feel hot flashes of energy
* Your attention homes in on the event that triggered the strong feelings, limiting your ability to take in new information

When people are under chronic and severe stress, they may have anxiety attacks, in which they tremble and their heart pounds. Or they may be paralyzed by almost overwhelming feelings of fear that seem to come out of nowhere. We work with many people who experience these feelings as their marriages end. People who feel overwhelmed or confused in this way tend to fall back upon old habits of thought and action rather than looking intelligently at the facts of their situation and weighing the best choices for the future.

Old Arguments Die Hard

As marriages become troubled, couples often rely on old habits of dealing with differences that lead to fights rather than solutions. If those old habits didn't lead to constructive solutions during the marriage, they will surely yield no better results during the divorce. In addition, people feeling anxious and fearful may resist pressure to move forward and resolve divorce-related issues because of feeling unready, while their spouses may be impatient, seeing no reason why the divorce wasn't over months ago. Bitter fights in the divorce courts often stem from differences such as these.

Unfortunately, both our court system and our culture at large encourage us to take action in divorces based on how we feel when we are at the bottom of the emotional roller coaster, when we are most gripped by anxiety, fear, grief, guilt, and shame. After all, that's when most people are moved to make the first call to a divorce lawyer. As a result, people are encouraged to make shortsighted choices based on emotional reactions that do not take into account anyone's long-term best interests. The resulting "bad divorces" harm everyone and serve no one well. They are very costly; they fail to plan intelligently for the future; and they inflict psychological scars on both the adults and the children.
 
 

Divorce Terms:
Appeal. Review of a trial courts decision and judgment by a higher court. The appeals court can review the trial courts finding of fact? and ?conclusions of law.? See Decision and Judgment.

Appeals courts analyze the trial courts decision and judgment for substantive errors in its ?conclusions of the law. In exceptional cases the trial courts ?finding of facts? are also reviewed. Most findings of facts are extremely difficult to challenge because appeals courts defer to the trial courts ability to weigh evidence. Unless the trial courts findings of fact cannot possibly be supported by the evidence, such appeals will fail. Judges have discretion to believe or disbelieve all evidence presented, and appeals courts will not second guess the trial court on its finding of facts.

While challenging a trial court conclusions of law is less difficult, states grant divorce judges substantial discretion in fashioning judgments. Therefore, appeals are often unsuccessful except for substantial errors of law that significantly and adversely impact a party; otherwise, the mistake is considered harmless error. Whether your appeal succeeds may depend more on your gender than the merits of your case. In Massachusetts, for instance, over 80% of appeals brought by husbands were dismissed whereas over 80% of appeals brought by wives prevailed.

Appear; Appearance; File an Appearance. A court filing registering the name of your lawyer, or, if you represent yourself, your name as pro se.

Your lawyer must file an appearance with the court. All pleadings and notices are then sent to her address which constitutes proper service on you. If you appear without counsel, you are said to appear pro se.

Once counsel files her appearance, she cannot withdraw her appearance without your permission or leave of court, usually by motion. Sometimes courts will not allow counsel to withdraw unless a new lawyer (successor counsel), or the party herself, files an appearance. If no successor appearance is filed, courts frequently deny this request, even if the client fails to pay attorneys fees. Counsel then becomes your involuntary servant, but don't expect zealous advocacy from a slave. You may get what you pay for. Obviously, divorce lawyers view this problem as justification for large retainers.

Arbitration. A legally binding, non-judicial procedure held before a neutral third party, the ?arbitrator,? who acts as private judge.

Unlike mediation, neither party can unilaterally terminate the process, and both parties are bound by the arbitrator decision, as if a judge acted in her official capacity. In some states, judges refer certain cases or aspects of cases for arbitration.

Arrearages. The deficiency between the amount, if any, paid and the amount required under court order. If payments are made voluntarily on a de facto basis, i.e., not under court order, any reduction in the amount of such payments is not considered an arrearage.

Attachment; Motion for Attachment. A lien on personal or real property created by court order (known as a writ of attachment) in response to a motion for attachment.

Attachments are issued by courts to preserve marital assets. An important adjunct to restraining orders, they are used if there is substantial risk that a restraining order would be violated. For instance, if the marital home is in the husband name, and he decides to sell the house despite a restraining order, the attachment puts the world on notice that any purchaser would be subject to the wifes rights. Obviously, no buyer would buy nor lender lend under these circumstances. Most orders of attachment are issued ex parte (see below).

Attorney for the Child(ren). A court-appointed attorney who represents the stated wishes of the child(ren). Unlike a guardian ad litem who acts in the childs best interest by substituting her own judgment for the childs, the attorney for the child(ren) must promote those causes espoused by the child(ren) and generally not substitute her own judgment.

The lawyers role is not clearly defined when representing very young children. In these cases, lawyers must substitute their own judgment on obvious matters such as protecting a childs bank account from an untrustworthy parent. Bankrupt; Bankruptcy. The inability of a person to pay his bills as they become due. Also, a persons legal status in federal bankruptcy court. Alimony and child support are generally not affected, but property divisions, including the marital home, are unprotected from third party creditors.

If concerned about your spouse filing for bankruptcy, consider an attachment on his portion of the marital assets, thus achieving ?secured creditor? preferred status in bankruptcy court.
 

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This website is not intended to give legal advice or service.
It is an informational website and should only be used as such.
For legal issues seek a competent legal counsel or advisor. A man that represents himself has a fool for a client.



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