Immediately start your search for an attorney to represent you. Always remember that there is a deadline to file an Answer to the divorce suit, which is the next Monday following 20 days from the date you were served. Each spouse must fill out a Financial Information Sheet that summarizes expenses, income and sources of ready cash at or before the hearing and is supposed to have his or her last two pay stubs and income tax returns for the last two years. The attorneys will usually talk before a hearing to see how many issues they can agree on. Testimony of witnesses and evidence are presented at these hearings, which can last sometimes just 30 minutes but often take hours.
Some courts place tight limits on how long such hearings can last.
The Associate Judge's rulings will be incorporated into temporary orders prepared by the attorneys, unless one side appeals to the Presiding Judge within 3 days. Each party works to discover as much as possible about the available property and about the other side's case. Both sides will file Sworn Inventories, which list all of the couple's assets and debts. All during the discovery process, both sides are usually working to reach a settlement of the case. It depends on how quickly both sides can reach a settlement.