When you’re going through a divorce, many things can be confusing. There are new people, new terms, so many logistics, and a lot of emotions… when all you want is to get through this in one piece for yourself and your children. Your first court appearance may be at a hearing for Temporary Orders. One might wonder why temporary orders are necessary when we could just finish the process quickly and start to move on. Unfortunately, the divorce process is going to take a few months, even under the best of circumstances. The fastest way to complete a divorce is by reaching an agreement promptly, but this is not always possible.
The purpose of Temporary Orders during a divorce is to maintain the status quo for finances and the children. Although a few other things could be addressed in Temporary Orders, there are five main issues.
Temporary Custody and Parenting Time
This is significant because it begins new routines for the entire family and starts to establish separate households. The stability and well-being of the children are of paramount concern, and getting temporary orders in place allows everyone to relax just a bit so that proper attention can be given to the work ahead. One parent will be named as the temporary custodian of the children, and parenting time for the other parent will be determined.
If you hope to enter into a Shared Parenting Plan with your soon-to-be ex-spouse, then communication and cooperation should begin at this stage if it hasn’t begun already. At every stage, it is important to remember that the best interests of the children are most important.
Child Support and Spousal Support
A temporary child support order will mostly likely go into place at this stage. It may change later based upon information obtained during the discovery phase.
A spousal support order may go into place as well. Many factors go into determining whether spousal support is appropriate. A few of the factors include the earning capacity of each party, duration of the marriage, education levels, standard of living during the marriage, and the ages and physical, mental, and emotional conditions of the spouses.
Allocation of Debts
At the temporary orders stage, it will be determined who will pay what debts while the divorce is pending. This includes mortgage payments, credit card payments, utilities, and so forth.
Use of the Marital Residence
Often, one of the temporary orders will determine which spouse will have exclusive use of the marital residence. Occasionally, both spouses continue to reside in a house during the divorce. If you intend to try to keep the house, think twice before being the one to move out.
Use of Vehicles
Finally, temporary orders will almost always determine who will have the beneficial use of property such as vehicles during the pendency of divorce proceedings. These orders typically are based on who routinely and normally uses the property. In other words, you’ll most likely continue to drive the car you normally drive while the divorce is going on.
Although some other issues may be included in Temporary Orders, such as attorney’s fees, Guardian ad Litem fees, or expert witness fees, these have been the main five that impact your life and the lives of your children the most.