3.6.5 The Divorce Petition

Petitions for divorce under Article 103 must contain the following:

1. Allegations of jurisdiction, domicile of the parties, and venue
2. Name of defendant, where domiciled and of the age of majority
3. Date and location of marriage and place of last matrimonial domicile 
4. Legal grounds for the divorce
5. Statement that the parties did not contract a covenant marriage
6. Statement that the defendant is not a member of the armed forces of the United States or its allies
7. Names, birthdates, and ages of children of the marriage, if any
8. Requests for ancillary matters such as custody, child support, spousal support, injunctive relief, protective orders, exclusive use of community property (including, money from the community for necessary expenses such as food, housing if spouse is destitute, or exclusive use of the community vehicle if petitioner needs transportation to get to work, etc.), and return of personal property. The pleading may also request an injunction against disposal/encumbrance of community property or that a partition of community property be commenced.

If your client does not anticipate that the opposing party will actively contest the divorce, it is often in your client’s best interest to file a “plain vanilla” divorce petition. By doing so, you do not risk creating problems that may delay the relief the client is asking from the court. The author’s opinion is that you don’t start a fire where none exists. Practicing family law is not so much about winning as it is about mitigating the damage that divorce so often causes to the family, especially, the children.