[hvnlyangel4279]

My fiancé is wanting to get a divorce so him and I can start our lives together as one. His so called wife is in prison and he and her have been separated for about 9 yrs. He never filed for a divorce in the past because he thought they could work things out but she never changed her ways to work on their marriage. When we found each other we fell in love and want to spend the rest of our lives together as one and we want to do it the right way. We are hoping to be married by my birthday April 2 I will be 34 and my dream was to be married by the age of 33. So if I keep pushing it I might just get my dream. Can anyone out there help us we don't have an income coming in and nor do we have any family to help us his mother was murdered and he has never met his father and my parents are strapped on money themselves to help me or us out. All the help will be appreciative.
Thank you,
hvnlyangel4279

[J_9]

Do they have assets or children?

[JudyKayTee]

You refer to his wife as his "so called wife." Does that mean that this was/is not a legal marriage?

I never recommend do-it-yourself divorces. Divorce is tricky and complicated.

Do they have joint assets, children (as J9 asked), debts?

[joypulv]

The cheapest divorce is the cost of the filing fee. Call your local county courthouse.
They might even have a website.
It cost me $100, but that was many years ago. I borrowed divorce papers and copied them, just changing the names.

[dontknownuthin]

If they don't own any assets (houses, cars, stocks, retirement plans) and have no children, and are in agreement about getting divorced, they can probably get a simple divorce. It is really only simple if they start in full agreement on the terms.

There are "pro bono" resources in every state - this is free legal assistance. Your boyfriend (you shouldn't call him your fiancé by the way if he's already married - kind of tacky - being your boyfriend is already pushing the limits since he is married) can call his local Bar association and ask for referals to pro bono legal organizations or attorneys who take pro bono family law clients.

If there are kids, child custody, visitation and support all have to be figured out. If they own a home or either of them have retirement accounts, savings, etc. that also has to be figured out. If your boyfriend made more than her before she went to jail, she might ask for spousal maintenance and that would have to be dealt with, too. All these kinds of things make it more expensive.

Even pro-bono attorneys sometimes expect some payment - they might just give a discount on a sliding-fee basis which is based on income. Your boyfriend will have to pay the court costs or other costs. Attorneys sometimes will waive their own fee (payment for their time) but they will not pay bills to third parties for you - so if the court charges something, or papers have to be delivered by a process server, given that the wife is in jail and probably has no income, the husband will have to pay for it.

[hvnlyangel4279]

No property nor children

[hvnlyangel4279]

You refer to his wife as his "so called wife." Does that mean that this was/is not a legal marriage?

I never recommend do-it-yourself divorces. Divorce is tricky and complicated.

Do they have joint assets, children (as J9 asked), debts?

Well the week of them being legally married she cheated on him , he is was willing to make it work even though she cheated on him he still loved her with all of his heart and forgave her, then she cheated on him some more. There are no children and no debts because they don't own anything together.

[ScottGem]

This varies by area. I suggest you go to your states website and search for divorce info. If the wife will willingly sign, then it should not be more than a few hundred dollars.

[AK lawyer]

... (you shouldn't call him your fiance by the way if he's already married - kind of tacky - being your boyfriend is already pushing the limits since he is married) ...

"Fiance" is the correct term: someone you have agreed to marry. "Boyfriend" is too (normally used in the sense of a male human with whom you have some sort of a romantic attachment) although unless he's under-age "man-friend" would make better sense linguistically (but nobody would understand what you're talking about).

So, by dontknownuthin's reasoning, if the man is married I guess no descriptive term is appropriate?

[dontknownuthin]

"Fiance" is the correct term: someone you have agreed to marry. "Boyfriend" is too (normally used in the sense of a male human with whom you have some sort of a romantic attachment) although unless he's under-age "man-friend" would make better sense linguistically (but nobody would understand what you're talking about).

So, by dontknownuthin's reasoning, if the man is married I guess no descriptive term is appropriate?

Well, in family law matters in my area, we use the term "paramour" for partners in extra-marital affairs. "Mistress" works for women, too. Or for a guy, how about "the married guy I'm having an affair with". The problem with Fiancé is that marriage is an exclusive relationship. So is engagement. One cannot truly have an exclusive commitment to two people at the same time.

I doubt there are many reasonable, rational people who would disagree that getting engaged to someone who's already married to someone else is trashy.