We Are Here To Listen
Serving Kansas in Family Law and Immigration
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I start a divorce in Kansas?
Q: How long will my divorce take?
Q: What are the considered grounds for divorce?
Q: How long do I have to respond to the divorce petition with which I was served?
Q: What happens if I do not respond to a Petition for Divorce?
Q: Where can I file my divorce?
Q: How do I know if I can file my divorce in Kansas?
Q: How long after my divorce until I can remarry?
Q: Can I take back my maiden name after my divorce?
Q: Can I change my child’s last name after the divorce?
Q: How long will I have to pay (or be awarded) maintenance?
Q: What custody options are there?
Q: How is child support calculated?
Q: How is my income calculated?
Q: I am not employed does it mean I do not have income for child support purposes?
Q: Is there any way that I can reduce child support?
Q: How do I start a divorce in Kansas?
A: In order to file a divorce in Kansas you or your spouse must have lived in Kansas for at least 60 days prior to the filing date of the divorce. When all of your paperwork is prepared you file it with the Clerk of the District Court in your county of residence.
Q: How long will my divorce take?
A: Kansas has a minimum-waiting requirement of 60 days from the date that you file the divorce before it can be granted. There are some exceptions for which the Court can grant an Emergency divorce. However, your spouse must be in agreement and you must have a justified reason for making a request for an emergency divorce. If you and your spouse do not have an agreement on how assets, debts, child custody and support (if applicable) should be divided, your divorce will likely take longer because you will need to have a trial so that the Court can decide on those issues.
Q: What are the considered grounds for divorce?
A: In Kansas, there are three principal reasons, or grounds, to obtain a divorce. They are: incompatibility, failure to perform a marital duty and incompatibility by reason of mental illness or incapacity of one or both parties.
Incompatibility is a no fault ground. You do not have to prove anything to obtain the divorce, you merely need to confirm that you have grown apart, are incompatible and that you no longer want to be married.
Failure to perform a marital duty is grounds for a fault divorce. It is not as widely used as incompatibility because you have to state and prove what failure you believe has occurred in your relationship (i.e. if your spouse has dissipated marital assets through gambling, drug use, etc.)
Incompatibility by reason of mental illness or incapacity of one or both parties is also a fault divorce concept. In order to have a divorce granted on this basis you would be required to prove that your spouse has been confined to an institution by reason of the mental illness for at least two years, adjudicated mentally ill while confined in an institution by reason of mental illness or adjudicated mentally incapacitated while confined in an institution by reason of mental illness.
Q: How long do I have to respond to the divorce petition with which I was served?
A: If you were served with divorce papers while in Kansas, you have twenty days to respond. If you were served outside of Kansas, you have thirty days to respond.
Q: What happens if I do not respond to a Petition for Divorce?
A: If you fail to respond to properly served papers the Court has the option after the required waiting period to grant the divorce and any of the requests of the Petitioner.
Q: Where can I file my divorce?
A: You may file in a jurisdiction (i.e. county court) where: The petitioner is an actual resident at the time of the filing, the Respondent is a resident at the time of the filing, the Respondent can be served with process or -- if the petitioner is stationed on a military reservation or post -- in any adjacent county.
Q: How do I know if I can file my divorce in Kansas?
A: In order to file a divorce in Kansas you or your spouse must be a resident of the State of Kansas for at least sixty days.
Q: How long after my divorce until I can remarry?
A: In order to remarry in Kansas you must wait a minimum of 30 days after your divorce was granted.
Q: Can I take back my maiden name after my divorce?
A: Yes, the Court can grant the party who has taken their spouse’s name to return to their maiden name if they so desire.
Q: Can I change my child’s last name after the divorce?
A: If the child has the other parent’s last name, the Court will not typically grant a change of last name without the other parent’s consent. There are some cases under which the Court will consider a name change but they are very limited.
A: Is also known as alimony. The Court grants maintenance to one party in a divorce when there is an income disparity and a need for support. Factors court's must consider include: age of the parties, present and prospective earning capacities, length of the marriage, division of assets and debts, manner of property acquisition, family ties and obligations, overall financial situation, contribution or sacrifice by one party to aid the other party’s education or career, and misconduct where the failure to penalize would cause an inequity.
Q: How long will I have to pay (or be awarded) maintenance?
A: Maintenance is typically awarded based on the length of the marriage. One way maintenance is calculated: divide the total number of years of the marriage by 3. If the marriage is one of long duration, the Court can impose a 10-year maintenance award and revisit the issue at a later time (so long as the person requesting maintenance files the appropriate motion.)
A: Yes, the Court typically orders that maintenance must terminate if the person paying maintenance dies, the person receiving maintenance dies or the person receiving maintenance remarries.
A: Legal custody refers to the parent’s ability to make decisions regarding their child’s education, health and overall welfare. Legal custody does not refer to which home the child calls her home and it does not refer to the parenting time (sometimes referred to as visitation) that the parents receive with the children.
Q: What custody options are there?
A: There are two types of custody that the Court typically considers: sole legal custody and joint legal custody. Sole legal custody means that one parent has the right to make all of the decisions regarding the child’s life (education, health and welfare.) To obtain this type of custody you will have to prove to the Court that there is a reason why the other parent should not have a right to make decisions for the child. Joint legal custody means that the parents must share in the right and responsibility of making decisions that will be in the best interest of the child(ren.) Parents who have joint legal custody must consult with one another when making day-to-day decisions about the child(ren)’s life.
A: Child support is money provided to the residential parent by the non-residential parent to assist in the support of the minor child(ren) of the marriage. In Kansas, the residential parent has the discretion on how to spend child support.
Q: How is child support calculated?
A: Child support is calculated based on the incomes of both parents. The calculations can be complex as they add the incomes of the parents to determine the percentage of that income that parents typically spend on children.
Q: How is my income calculated?
A: Your gross income will be used to determine child support. Additionally, the Court can use additional income such as historically averaged overtime (based on the average of overtime received over a one year period), second jobs, and additional pay through the military such as Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS.)
Q: I am not employed does it mean I do not have income for child support purposes?
A: No, the Court can impute income to you based on a 40-hour work week at the federal minimum wage.
Q: Is there any way that I can reduce child support?
A: Possibly. Child support adjustments allow the parents to reduce or increase child support based on the benefits afforded to the child. A good example of an adjustment is medical insurance. The parent that pays medical insurance for the benefit of the minor child can use the monthly cost of providing health insurance to the child to reduce the overall amount of child support.