DIVORCE & SEPARATION

No. North Carolina does not require that any agreement or statement of intent be signed to start the year of separation. Instead, separation depends on the spouses being physically apart and not living together, as well as no longer holding themselves out as spouses.

Yes. Many County Clerks’ offices in the Triangle area have divorce packets that can help people file for their own divorce. If you are interested in discussing fees, call NicholsonPham for a consultation. If the divorce is uncontested and there are no issues of property or child custody, divorce representation fees can be very reasonable.

North Carolina rules governing attorneys prohibit that practice. Even if both people are amicable and want the divorce, the attorney who files the Complaint for one spouse cannot draft an Answer for the other spouse.

Currently the statute is gender-specific and allows women to have more options of changing their surnames than men. However, we believe that the statute should be read in light of marriage-equality decisions. Given that, you can resume your pre-marital surname (what is generally called a “maiden name”), or retake the name of a prior deceased spouse or the surname of a living ex-spouse if you have children with that person who also use that surname.

You cannot change your entire name based on the divorce alone. If you want to change your name beyond resuming your pre-marital surname, please call NicholsonPham to discuss a name change procedure.

If you are married, you can always choose to file “married, filing separately.” If you want to be single for income tax purposes, you must be divorced by December 31st of that tax year. Many counties have divorce court on the last day of the year, just to accommodate residents who want a divorce before the end of the year.