Define: petitioner

The petitioner is the spouse or parent who commences the divorce or other legal proceeding. The family law proceeding is commenced by one person serving the other with a summons and petition for dissolution of marriage or petition for custody. Once served, the initiating spouse or parent becomes the petitioner and the other spouse or parent becomes the respondent.

What does it mean to be the Petitioner?

If your divorce or other family law matter proceeds to a trial, the petitioner must present his or her case first, including having all witnesses testify and introduce all trial exhibits. The respondent presents his or her case last. Most divorces are resolved without the need for a trial, so this is usually a non-issue.

Further, the petitioner, in most cases, is the one who initially files the summons and petition and any other required documents with the court and pays the requisite court filing fee. If the parties are able to reach an agreement on their own relatively early in the legal proceedings, then the respondent may not be required to pay a separate filing fee. If there are any disputed matters that must be heard before the judge, then the respondent would be required to pay the filing fee at that time.

Finally, while this is not always the case, frequently the petitioner is the one who is tasked with drafting any necessary agreement reached, such as a stipulated Judgment and Decree in divorce proceedings.

References to Petitioner and Respondent in Legal Documents

Many attorneys will use the terms “Petitioner” and “Respondent” throughout legal documents that must be drafted such as the stipulated Judgment and Decree. When reading through these documents it can sometimes get confusing as to who is the petitioner and who is the respondent. It is the preference of the attorneys at Blahnik, Prchal & Stoll to convert petitioner and respondent to either “Husband” and “Wife” or “Father” and “Mother” when possible, to avoid any confusion as to who is who in the documents.