Filing the Complaint for Divorce and Obtaining a Summons

This is Part 2 of a series that will walk you through an uncontested divorce in Wyoming, if you have no minor children with your spouse. I will be explaining the use of the pro se forms provided by the Wyoming Supreme Court, which can be found here.

You will need to complete the civil cover sheet (form DNCP 5), a Vital Statistics Form (form DNCP 6), and a Summons (form DNCP 8).

In the body of the post, there will be links to completed examples of each of those forms.

Civil Cover Sheet

A civil Cover Sheet must be submitted with each new filing with the Court. The Court’s use this sheet to enter data about the litigants, and to keep statistics on the types and numbers of case that are filed.

The first part you complete is the Caption. In the area for the Plaintiff, there are three lines. Just write your full, legal name on the first line. On the second line, write your street address or PO Box, and on the third line write your City, State and ZIP code.

There is a line for the Defendant below. On this line, just write the full, legal name of your spouse.

In part II, Nature of the Suit, check the box next to “Divorce w/o Minor Children.” Do not check any other box.

In most cases, you can skip Parts III and IV. If you and your spouse are involved in related cases, such as stalking or family violence cases, you should contact a lawyer.

Finally, sign on the bottom line as the pro se litigant, and write the date. Remember to write out the month, and write the four digit year. Like this: August 9, 2010.

Here is an example of a completed Civil Cover Sheet.

Vital Statistics Form

The Vital Statistics Form must be submitted to the Court with each complaint for divorce. Once your divorce is completed, the court will send information about your divorce to the states where you were born and where you were married. These are the records about marriages and divorces that the churches used to (and some still) keep.

Applicant Section

The first part has the information about the applicant, which is you, the Plaintiff.

Box 1a. – Write you full, legal name. No abbreviations.

Box 1b. – If you are a woman, then write in your maiden last name. This is the last name you had, before your first marriage.

Box 2a – Write in the name of the place your reside. This is not necessarily the place of your mailing address. For instance, if you get your mail at a PO Box in Rock Springs, but you are living in your camper at Point of Rocks, then put Point of Rocks.

Box 2b. – This is the ZIP code of the place your reside, not necessarily your mailing ZIP.

Box 2c. – This is the county where you reside, and it should be in the same county where you are going to be filing your divorce. If you live in Bairoil, you are Sweetwater County. So, even though you have to drive through Rawlins (the county seat of Carbon County) you will have to file your divorce in Green River, the county seat of Sweetwater County.

Box 2d. – Write in Wyoming, because if you do not reside in Wyoming, you will not be able to file for divorce in Wyoming.

Box 3. – Write in the State you were born in. No need to write in the town. If you were born in the state of Chihuahua, in Mexico, then you would write the country name of Mexico.

Box 4. – Write in your date of birth. Remember to write out the name of the month, and use a four digit year. For instance, October 11, 2012, instead of 10/11/12.

Spouse section

This part has to do with your spouse, which is the Defendant.

All the information has to be entered the same way as for you, the Plaintiff. However, the Defendant does not need to be a resident of the same county as you, or even a resident of Wyoming.

Marriage section

This part collects the information about the marriage.

Boxes 9a, b. and c.  – Enter the name of the city where you were married. This is the place where the marriage ceremony took place, not where you got your marriage license.

If you were married on the shore of Jenny Lake, then you would write Jenny Lake, near Moose, and then Teton in the County box, and Wyoming in the State box.

Box 10 – Write in the date of the marriage. This is not the date of the marriage license, but the date that the ceremony was performed.

Box 11 – Write in the date you and your spouse separated. This is the same date you entered in Line 3 of your Complaint for Divorce. If you are still living together, then write the date that you are filling out the paperwork.

Box 12 – This box wants the number of kids conceived by this couple. Since this series of posts is about an uncontested divorce with no kids, you should be checking the “None” box.

Attorney Section

Box 14a. – If you are doing the paperwork yourself, then you check the “Pro se” box. If you have an attorney, then your attorney would be doing all this anyway, and they would write in their name, etc.

Box 14b. – This is the attorney’s address, not yours. Leave it blank.

That’s it. Do not write in any of the other areas, they are for the Clerk of Court.

Here is an example of a completed Vital Statistics Form.

The Summons

The Clerk issues the Summons, (but you have to fill it out first). This is the document that actually requires the Defendant to participate in the divorce proceeding.

The first part is the caption, and you fill it out just like you did the Complaint for Divorce. Enter the County and Judicial District where you will be filing.Then you enter the names of the Parties, and leave the case number blank. This first part should be identical to the caption in the Complaint.

Defendant information

In this section, you will enter the Defendant’s full, legal name. For the home address, enter the place where they live, not a PO Box. Be sure to include the city, State and ZIP.

Defendant’s phone number (if you know it). This is used by the process server to locate the Defendant.

If you know where the Defendant works, enter the employer’s name and address. This also helps the process server, if the papers have to be served.

Leave the date blank. The Clerk of Court will fill that in when you file the papers.

Leave the Clerk of Court information blank too.

Plaintiff’s Name section

This is you. Enter your name, address and phone number on the lines indicated.

Here is an example of a Completed Summons, before filing it with the Clerk.

Make Copies

You have to make copies of all these documents before you go to the courthouse.

You should make two copies of the Complaint. The original will stay with the Court. One of the copies is for you, the second copy is for the Defendant.

Make three copies of the Summons. The Clerk will fill out their part on the original and the copies. They will keep one copy, the original and the other two copies will be returned to you. One of the copies is for you, the other is for the Defendant. The original will be returned to the Court after the Defendant is served.

Make one copy of the Civil Cover Sheet. The Court will keep the original, and the copy is for you. The Defendant does not need to be given a copy of the cover sheet.

You should also make one copy of the Vital Statistics Form for your records. You need to submit the original to the Court when you file the Complaint.

Paperclip the originals and their copies together. It makes it easier for the Clerks to process your paperwork. They will appreciate it.

Cash for the Filing Fee

The Clerk will not accept checks for the filing fee, so take cash. The filing fee is $70,00 as of the date of this post.

File with the Clerk of Court

After you have completed all the forms, made the copies, and collected your cash, take it all to the District Court. There is usually security at each Courthouse, so just ask them where you go to file a divorce.

Once you get to the Clerk’s counter, hand them your stack of papers. They will then file them, enter the case into the system and accept the filing fee. When they are done, they will return most of the papers to you.

You will then be ready for the next step, which is serving the Defendant.

By Steve Harton

See Part 1 of this series

The Complaint for Divorce

By Steve Harton

This is Part 1 of a series that will walk you through an uncontested divorce in Wyoming, if you have no minor children with your spouse. I will be explaining the use of the pro se forms provided by the Wyoming Supreme Court, which can be found here. You will need form DNCP 7. At the end of the post, there is a link to an example of a completed complaint.

The complaint for divorce is the document that starts the divorce process. It identifies the court, contains the names of the Parties, states the facts that give the Court jurisdiction to hear the case, and requests the Court to grant to the Plaintiff the things he or she wants.

Court Identification

County – Divorces are handled in District Court, and there is a District Court in each county in Wyoming. Therefore, you will file in the County in which you reside, so you fill in your county name in the place provided.

District – Each county belongs to one of nine judicial districts. You can find out which district your county is in on this page. Enter the number of your district at the place indicated.

Names of Parties

The Plaintiff is you, the person filing for the divorce. Please enter your full, legal name here, as it appears on your birth certificate. Do not write Matt, if your name is Matthew. If you are a Junior, then be sure to indicate that as well.

The Defendant is your wife or husband. Again, enter their full, legal name.

Case Number

Leave the Civil Action Case Number space blank. The Clerk of Court will assign this number when you file the Complaint, and they will write it on the form for you.

The Body of the Complaint

Residency

In Paragraph 1, you will write in the name of the County that you reside in. The paragraph also states that you have lived in the State of Wyoming for more than sixty days prior to filing the Complaint. This is a jurisdictional requirement, and if this is not true, then the Court will dismiss the case.

The only exception to this is if you were married in Wyoming less than sixty days ago, and you have lived here ever since. If that is the case, then check the Yes box. If not, then check No. If you have lived here for more than sixty days, then do not check either box.

Date and Place of Marriage

Enter the date and place of marriage. Whenever you are writing a date, it is a good idea to write out, or abbreviate the name of, the month, and write the full year. Therefore, you should write “Oct.  11, 2012” instead of 10/11/12.

You must enter the city, the county, and state of marriage. This is not the city where you got your marriage license, but the city or town where the ceremony took place. If you got married outside of the city limits, enter the name of the nearest city or down. If you don’t know which county you were married in, just do an online search and the Wikipedia entry will list it.

Separation Date

Enter the date that you and your spouse last lived together. This is usually the date when you or the other moved out of the home you shared. If you are still living together, then enter the date that you are filing the Complaint with the Court.

Is Wife Pregnant?

You have to indicate whether or not the wife is pregnant. If no, then check that box, and you are good to go.

However, if the wife is pregnant, you will almost certainly have to wait until after the baby is born before the divorce is granted. The reason for this is that if the parent are in dispute as to whether or not the husband is the father, then genetic testing will have to be done. Such tests are usually done after the baby is born. Even if there is no dispute that the husband is the father, the decree needs to identify the child by name and birth date, so that custody and support can be ordered.

If both parties are sure that the husband is not the father, then the divorce could be granted, but the decree must contain specific and special language to indicate that fact.

As the form says though, if the wife is pregnant, you should really consult with an attorney.

Alimony

In paragraph 8, you must indicate whether or not the husband or wife should be awarded alimony, or if neither person should be awarded alimony.

In Wyoming, alimony is rarely awarded. The courts prefer to make an adjustment in property division instead. However, alimony is sometimes awarded in long term marriages, where (usually) the wife stayed home, put her education and/or career aside, and raised the kids and supported the other spouse’s career.

Signature

When you are done filling out the Complaint, you must date the document. Notice how the form is in the format of day, month years. So for October 11, 2012, you would write the 11th day of October, 2012.

You must also sign your name, print your name, your address and phone number. Be sure to put down a good address, because all notices from the Court will be mailed to that address. If the address is no good, or you don’t always get your mail at that address, you might miss an important event or an important pleading. Unfortunately, the Court will assume that you received whatever was mailed to the address that you listed.

So that is it. The Complaint for Divorce is completed! The next step is filing it with the Court.

To view a filled in Complaint for Divorce, click here.

Go to Part 2