Documents Required for Successful Divorce

Divorcing your spouse requires more than filing the documents and serving them to your spouse.  It also requires keeping track of your divorce calendar.  After you have served your spouse with the documents, they will need to send you an “Affidavit of Defendant (Form UD-7),” which they will need to fill out and send to you within 40 days of being served.

Necessary Divorce Forms

After 40 days of serving your spouse, or when you receive the filled-out affidavit from your spouse, you can check the New York Courts website for the forms and instructions on how to fill out the forms, which you will need in order to get your case in the court calendar.  These documents are the:

1)      Summons with Notice or Summons and Complaint

2)      Affirmation of Regularity (Form UD-5)

3)      Affidavit of Plaintiff (Form UD-6)

4)      Note of Issue (Form UD-9) filled out in triplicate

5)      Findings of Fact/Conclusions of Law (Form UD-10)

6)      Judgment of Divorce (Form UD-11)

7)      Part 130 Certification (Form UD-12)

8)      Affidavit of Defendant (Form UD-7), if it was signed and returned to you by your spouse, however if your spouse did not fill out this document, you will also need to file:

Affidavit of Service (Form UD-3)
Sworn Statement of Barriers to Remarriage (Form UD-4)

9)     Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage

10)   Postcard

11)    USC 111 – Divorce and Child Support Summary Form

Other Documents

Some other documents that may be required, based on your individual case, may be required in the case of children or in courts other than the 5 NYCB’s (New York City Boroughs).

If you have children with your current spouse, you will need to fill out and file child support forms (Forms UD-8, UD-8a, and UD-8b).

In the case of divorce being filed in courts, other than the five courts for the NYCB, you must fill out the “Request for Judicial Intervention (Form UD-13).”

Finishing Up

After you have filled out all the applicable forms required for your divorce, you will need to take all the completed forms into the County Clerk’s office for filing.  You may need to pay the filing fees for some of the documents; however, there is an alternative to paying the fees.  You can ask the clerk for a “Poor Person’s Waiver” form and, if you qualify, the fees may be waived.  The judge who will be presiding over the case will receive all the documents and if they are approved, the judge will issue a divorce judgement.