If you haven’t been served with divorce papers yet, but suspect your spouse has filed for divorce, here’s three easy steps you can take now to find out if your spouse filed.

Real quick, other than pure curiosity, there are some good reasons why you would want to know if your spouse has filed for divorce. Here’s a few examples:

• You may want to change current plans if you know a divorce is imminent. A divorce is a life-changing event (for better or worse), which is really a process that takes months, or more. So, you might not want to follow through with certain plans if a divorce is on the horizon, such as a big family vacation, starting a new business, changing jobs, etc. A divorce can cost a lot of money and cause a lot of stress, so it’s nice to know ahead of time before making any big plans.
• Similarly, the date you get served with divorce papers is legally significant (at least in Arizona). The day you get served terminates the marital community, meaning you and your spouse will no longer accumulate community property and/or debts. Because of this, there may be a strategic reason to move quickly (or slowly) with regard to the divorce process. Knowledge is power, and so if you know that a divorce has been filed, you can act accordingly to possibly better your situation.

Ok, now let’s jump into the three easy steps to find out if your spouse has filed for divorce.

Number one is to look up on the county court docket to see if there is a case.

In Arizona, all divorces have to be filed in Superior Court. All Superior Courts are divided up by county. So, if your spouse filed, then most likely he/she filed in the Superior Court in the county where you both live. If you were already physically separated, then you’ll probably want to look at the Superior Court docket in both the county where you live and where your spouse lives (if different). For those that live on the border of two counties, it can be common for the parties to file in the adjacent county, so you might need to search the neighboring county as well. For example, a lot of people who live in south Queen Creek will still file in Maricopa County, even though they technically live in Pinal County.

Searching the Superior Court docket isn’t all that difficult; however, not all counties update their online dockets as quickly as others. You can follow the links below to each county’s Superior Court website and follow the links to search the “court docket.” Once you find the court docket, you can do a search by name (use your spouse’s name in case your name got misspelled for some reason). A lot of people share the same name, so you might be multiple results. To sift through multiple results you want to look for the filing date (which would presumably be fairly recent) and the DOB info for the party, which is posted on some (but not all) of the dockets. If you find a recently filed case that includes your spouse and your name as the listed parties, then chances are high your spouse filed for divorce.

Since most people in Arizona live in Maricopa County, I’ve placed a video here below showing how to navigate the Maricopa County Superior Court docket to find a divorce case, using the fictitious, but common, name John Smith. If you live in another county and are having trouble, you can always call the Court using the website links I’ve provided below to ask Court staff how you can view the online court docket to search for a case.

Now, you may not be able to find your case on the docket, especially if you’re searching just a day or so after it was filed. Most of the dockets are updated every few days, so if you are searching shortly after your spouse filed, it might not show up.

A second method of finding out if your spouse filed for divorce is to review your bank and/or credit card records.

If you have joint accounts with your spouse, you can review those accounts to see if there has been a charge for a filing fee. Unless your spouse filed to defer the filing fee (which is based on financial needs), he/she would have paid the Clerk of the Court a filing fee when the divorce was filed. Each county has its own filing fee amount.

To help, I’ve included a link for every county Superior Court so you can look up the divorce filing fee (look for Petition for Dissolution of Marriage). Most of the fees range from around $250-350 or so. If you see a recent charge that is for the “Clerk of the Superior Court” and/or for the exact amount of the divorce filing fee in the county where you and your spouse live, then it’s very likely that your spouse filed for divorce.

Lastly, in a similar manner, you can review joint bank accounts and/or credit cards to see if your spouse paid for any legal services.

This could be in the form of a consult fee and/or a retainer fee. If such a charge exists, it may or may not show the exact name of the firm. If it does, you can search the firm on the internet and see what type of law they practice. If family law is included, then you guessed it, your spouse probably filed for divorce, or at least is thinking about it.

To wrap it up, you may have noticed that I never definitively say that your spouse has filed for divorce. The reason why is because until you are served with divorce papers, you probably won’t know for sure with 100% certainty. For instance, a court case on the docket involving you and your spouse could be something else, such as an order of protection. Likewise, a charge to the court or a law firm could be for some other purpose. That being said, if you’re worried enough about a pending divorce that you searched to find out ways to find out if your spouse filed for divorce, then those worries combined with any of the clues above would strongly point to a divorce being filed.

If you strongly believe your spouse has filed for divorce, then the next two questions you might be asking are: (1) should I accept or dodge service; and (2) what do I do after being served with divorce papers.

Lucky for you, I’ve drafted articles on those very questions, which you can read by clicking the links on the questions above. In addition, once you learn what you need to do after being served, you’ll need to figure out your rights and obligations in the divorce. For those who can afford it, there a ton of divorce lawyers out there. For those who can’t afford it, we’ve created online divorce courses designed to quickly educate people on the basics of divorce. If you could use some cost-effective help, take a look at the courses we offer. We offer a 7-day money back guarantee so there’s nothing to lose.