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An
“answer” is the document filed in court that responds to a petition. An
answer in a divorce usually “admits” many or most of the allegations found
in the petition and Kansas law requires that an answering party admit
allegations if they are true, unless that person does not have enough
information to know whether it is true or not. The “answer” may also ask
that the court approve agreements or decide issues between the parties.
An
“answer” may also include “affirmative relief” (that is, requests that the court
make orders favoring the answering party), but this is usually done in a “counterclaim.”
A person who requests spousal support (alimony) from the other spouse may
do this in the “answer,” but it is usually advisable to do so in a “counterclaim”
instead.
If
The first step in starting any domestic action is the filing of the
"petition." The petition is a simple, straight-forward
legal document that contains basic information about the parties, the claims
made, and the “relief” requested. The spouse who first files the petition
is the "Petitioner" (although Kansas law states that the term is not
supposed to be used). The other spouse — the
spouse against whom the Petition is filed — is
called the "Respondent" (although, again, Kansas law states that the term is not
supposed to be used).
If
the husband and wife have children of their marriage, both the petition and the answer must include information
about those children – even if that same information is included in the
other pleading. Kansas
law requires that both the
petition and the answer include the following information if the husband
and wife have children from their relationship:
- Full-name of each child;
- Birthdates (by month and
year) and ages for each child;
- Addresses where each child
is living (both parents addresses if the child is living with both for
some time);
- Addresses where each child
has lived for the past 5 years;
- Addresses of any person who
claims child custody rights (legal custody or parenting time rights);
- Whether any previous cases
in which the child’s custody was involved were filed and, if so, the
county and state of the filing, the case number, and the result;
- Whether there exist any
court orders about the child’s custody and, if so, the county and
state of filing, the case number and the order;
The petition and answer must “verify” the responses to
these questions.
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