The divorce petition has been served and filed by either you or your spouse. Discovery is often the next part of the divorce process. Even if your hope is to avoid court, discovery can still play an important role.
Each side questions the other side and the answers they obtain help them to “discover” pertinent facts. One of the vehicles used for discovery are documents called interrogatories.
The purpose of the interrogatories is to ask questions that will help the opposing sides obtain information that might not already be known. In addition, interrogatories can verify facts that are partially known by the other side.
Keep in mind that this is the time that your attorney’s fees start to escalate because of the sheer paper work and billable hours involved. It would be wise to ask your attorney before this begins, what he or she considers to be the need for detailed interrogatories. This is an example of why retaining a divorce attorney who is ethical and out to protect your finances so vital.
As an example, if you and your soon to be ex had no secrets and the divorce is relatively amicable, a lot of money can be saved by limiting discovery.
Trust me, when you see the questions that can be asked in the interrogatories, you will be in shock. Often answering the questions can take days or even weeks because every detail must be verified and that takes a great deal of time.
Photo: Librarian Avenger
