The action shall be filed in the county in which either plaintiff or defendant resides. If the plaintiff is a nonresident then the action shall be brought in the county of defendant's residence. If the parties are both residents of North Carolina and the action is filed where plaintiff resides, and plaintiff thereafter leaves the state and ceases to be a resident, then the action may be removed to the county in which defendant resides. The prescribed contents of a divorce complaint are illustrated in the sample complaint in the Appendix of this book. Service of the summons and complaint must be in compliance with Rule 4, which is the applicable rule of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure.
Service is the form of delivery of a document required by pertinent legal rules.
The defendant typically has 30 days from the date of service of summons and complaint upon him or her to file answer or other responsive pleading. A defendant can also move for an additional 30-day extension of time. In cases where service has been by publication, described in the next chapter, defendant has 40 days to file an answer. It commonly happens, however, that defendants in divorce actions file no answer. At the expiration of the applicable waiting period, the case may be calendared for hearing.