The “Petition for Dissolution of Marriage” is a legal document that contains the facts of the marriage (e.g. minor children, marital property, non-marital property, debt owed, etc) from the initiating party’s perspective. At the end of the document, it requests certain relief (e.g. an award of custody of the minor children, award of child support, division of property, etc.).

Serving (delivery in a certain way) of the Summons and Petition is the beginning of the legal process of a Divorce.

Once the Summons and Petition are personally served, the other spouse has thirty (30) days to respond to the Petition for Divorce. This is done by serving a written “Answer and Counter-Petition” on the initiating party or his/her attorney (if represented).

Read petition statute: link