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Summary Divorce

IMPORTANT: Court staff is not allowed to give legal advice and cannot help you complete these forms. If you are unsure how to proceed, you should consult an attorney.

To protect your rights, carefully read this information and any instructions to which you are referred.

You may only use these forms if your answer is "Yes" to all of the following statements:

  1. The spouse who is listed as Plaintiff has lived in North Dakota for the past six (6) months. _____ Yes _____ No
  2. The action is for a divorce with children. _____ Yes _____ No
  3. The fair market value of the combined net assets of the spouses is less than $50,000. (The total does not include the homestead.) _____ Yes _____ No

STOP:

If you answered "no" to any of the statements in 1-3, do not use these forms.


IMPORTANT! Even if you answered "yes" to the statements above, these forms are not suitable for every divorce.

At any stage of the Summary Divorce proceedings, the court may decide that the facts or legal issues of the divorce are too complex to be fairly resolved in a summary proceeding. The court may order that the divorce be decided in non-summary proceedings.

Consider the following before using the Summary Divorce forms:

  1. My spouse and I agree on dividing our marital assets and debts. _____ Yes _____ No
  2. My spouse and I are mostly in agreement on determining our parenting rights and responsibilities with our children. Our disagreements can be resolved with mediation. _____ Yes _____ No
  3. My spouse and I are likely to agree on all issues in our divorce before the final summary divorce hearing. _____ Yes _____ No

STOP: 

If you answered "no" to any of the statements in 1-3, the court may decide that the facts or legal issues of your divorce are too complex to be fairly resolved in a summary proceeding.

A hearing is required for this proceeding:

  1. Hearing times will be set by the clerk's office. Requests for changes to hearing times must be made in writing to the Court. Only the Court can approve changes to hearing times.
  2. Parties are required to bring their copies of forms and supporting documentation to the hearing.

Summary Divorce forms include:

Information/Forms requiring clerk signature - Forms Series 1:
Plaintiff's forms - Forms Series 2:
Defendant's Forms - Forms Series 3:
Forms to be completed by both before the hearing - Forms Series 4:
ALL FORMS must be as complete as possible prior to filing with the clerk.

The information provided on and obtained from this site does not constitute the official record of the Court. This information is provided as a service to the general public. Any user of this information is hereby advised that it is being provided "as is". The information provided may be subject to errors or omissions. Visitors to this site agree that the Court is not liable for errors or omissions of any of the information provided. 

If you have a question relating to a case that is already filed please contact the clerk of court for the county.