I'm not quite sure if the laws are the same in your state, but the state I am from will not allow a divorce case to enter the courts until the classes are completed by both parents. This was told to me by my lawyer. She could not schedule anything with court until my ex and I submitted the certificates of completion.

Susan

Same here. We both had to attend the classes before any court date would be set. The teacher of the course had to submit the papers to the judge hearing the case.

We had to attend and complete it before the divorce would be granted. We went to court for the first hearing the Tuesday before his first class, and then I missed one and had to reschedule, for which the program charged me a fee. So the divorce wasn't final until after we both submitted certificates of completion via the program.

Our lawyers had to submit our certificates along with any papers or documents needed for the case. The courts in our state want the certificates right away because they will not tie up the courts with cases where they have to wait for the parents to complete the classes. We had two classes that were a few hours long. We even have people on the waiting list to take these classes. Shows how many divorces we have in our state. My ex and I went to different places for the classes. I liked mine because the teachers not only talked about dealing with children when going through the divorce, but also spent some time telling us what we may need to know about the courts when dealing with divorce and answered any questions about parenting, divorce and courts etc...Also got to meet people going through the same thing and find out how they were handling things. I can't tell you how much I have learned just going through my divorce. It was one big life lesson in so many ways. I learned about myself, about others, about the courts, about how the law works, about counseling, about how much more is out there than just my life around my marriage. Divorce can offer positive things as well if you let it and are willing to seek out answers and learn. In the end I like what I am becoming more than what my ex made me feel like in the last few years of our marriage.

Susan ....-->