A petition is nothing more than a letter drafted and couched in legal terms written to the court telling the court what that person wants. A petition is answered by either Original Answer or Answer and Counter-Petition. Similar to the Original Petition, the Answer or Counter-Petition is a document which tells the Court what that person wants. See Divorce Process . The person who brings the case first gets to talk first.
Some lawyers swear that there is an advantage to being first.
Others say it doesn t really matter. There is no negative connotation attributable to the spouse who brings the action or to the person who responds to the action. If family violence has been a part of your life, you need to take action. It is more credible for a victim of family violence to bring the action first. Nearly all of them.