Sometimes people will encounter a problem when it comes to a divorce in West Virginia. That problem is they heard their spouse has filed something in court against them. Maybe their soon to be former spouse had filed for divorce, but they had not been served with the petition. If served with a petition, that means you have been handed the petition literally in person or some other acceptable methods such as being served by certified mail where you actually have to sign for it. If somebody is served with a petition, this means that they have properly received it. It’s not enough for the petition to just simply go out in the mail. More has to be done other than that to officially be served.
If one thinks something has been filed in court and wondering what to do, then one option is to go up to the courthouse and see. Oftentimes they’ll allow you to actually accept service at that point. However, reasons exist that one may or may not want to do that. One reason one may not want to go to the court house is that once you are served in some way, shape or form, whether it’s by being handed the documents or signing for it or going up to the courthouse and receiving it in your hand and accepting services, the clock starts ticking in terms of when you have to file your answer.
The answer is the document where one states whether they agree or disagree with the divorce. Most importantly, one needs to state whether they agree or disagree about certain things that are stated in the petition. Once served the petition, one has 20 days from the date of receipt. If the 20 days fall on the weekend, it’s generally bumped until the following business day. If it falls on a legal holiday, the deadline is bumped to the next business day when the courthouse is open. Now, ways exist that you can get around the 20 days, but generally speaking it involves a lawyer and there’s a little bit of a process with that as well.
