In a Rhode Island Divorce whether you are a lawyer or a client, one of the first things you will be talking about is the court's Automatic Orders. The Automatic Orders are in effect in every Rhode Island Divorce and must be served upon the Defendant with the divorce complaint.
For the party filing the divorce complaint, the Automatic Orders go into effect at the moment the Plaintiff signs the complaint. For the party being served with the divorce complaint, the Automatic Orders go into effect at the moment the Defendant is served.
These orders of the court are mandated by R.I. General Laws 15-5-14.1.
R.I. General Laws 15-5-14.1 reads as follows:
§ 15-5-14.1 Automatic orders in divorce cases. – (a) Upon the filing of a complaint for divorce, divorce from bed and board, legal separation, annulment, custody or visitation by the plaintiff and upon service of the petition and summons of the defendant or upon waiver and acceptance of service by the parties, the automatic orders shall be effective with regard to the plaintiff upon the signing of the complaint and with regard to the defendant upon service. A copy of the automatic order shall be served with the summons and complaint.
(b) Neither party shall sell, transfer, encumber, conceal, assign, remove or in any way dispose of, without the consent of the other party in writing, or without an order of the court, any property, individually or jointly held by the parties, except in the usual course of business or for customary and usual household expenses or for reasonable attorneys' fees in connection with this action. Nothing in this section shall be construed to create liability against or affect the validity of the title to real estate of any purchaser of real estate for value when the purchaser acts in good faith and without actual knowledge of the court's order.
(c) Neither party shall incur any unreasonable debts including, but not limited to, further borrowing against any credit line secured by the family residence, further encumbrance of any assets, or unreasonably using credit cards or cash advances against credit or bank cards. Nothing in this section shall be construed to create liability against the creditor under the terms of the original agreement when the creditor acts in good faith and without actual knowledge of the court's order.
(d) Neither party shall permanently remove the minor child or children from the state of Rhode Island without the written consent of the other party or an order of the court.
(e) Neither party shall cause the other party or the children of the marriage to be removed from any medical, hospital and/or dental insurance coverage, and each party shall maintain the existing medical, hospital, and dental insurance coverage in full force and effect.
(f) Neither party shall change the beneficiaries of any existing life insurance policies, and each party shall maintain the existing life insurance, automobile insurance, homeowner's or renter's insurance policies in full force and effect.
(g) If the parties are living together on the date of service of these orders, neither party may deny the other party use of the current primary residence of the parties, whether it be owned or rented property, without court order. This provision shall not apply if there is a prior, contradictory court order.
(h) If the parties share a child or children, a party vacating the family residence shall notify the other party or the other party's attorney, in writing, within forty-eight (48) hours of such move, of an address where the relocated party can receive communication. This provision shall not apply if there is a prior, contradictory court order.
(i) If the parents of the children live apart during the dissolution proceeding, they shall assist their children in having contact with both parties, which is consistent with the habits of the family, personally, by telephone, and in writing unless there is a prior court order.
These orders are significant because they are intended to prevent either of the parties from "monkeying around" so-to-speak with the assets, debts and other major aspects of the marital relationship. The idea behind the spirit of these orders is to maintain the 'status quo' and the way the parties have been living until the court can take a look at the situation and determine what should be done both on a temporary and on a permanent basis.
The caveat I make to my clients and to you as a reader is not to play games with the Automatic Orders, especially if you have an attorney or have had the assistance or advice of legal counsel. The fact is, if you get a judge on a bad day and you have taken action that substantially and materially violates either the letter of the law or the spirit of these orders, you might find yourself in handcuffs being shuttled off to the Adult Correctional Institution, paying an award of attorneys' fees to your spouse or any other relief the Rhode Island family court judge believes is appropriate under the circumstances.
What do I mean by playing games with the Automatic Orders?
John and Mary are married. John works and pays the bills and Mary is a full-time home-maker and this has been acceptable to John. John and Mary have a joint checking and a joint savings account. John files for divorce and after Mary is served John withdraws all the funds from both of their joint accounts and has taken her removed as a user on all the credit cards she has been on during their marriage.
If you look at the language of R.I. General Laws 15-5-14.1 it doesn't specifically state that this exact situation is prohibited. In other words, the law does not say a joint holder of a bank account can't remove all the funds during a divorce. The law doesn't say that a party can't remove a spouse as an authorized user on credit cards they have used throughout their marriage either.
However, the spirit of the Automatic Orders is clear, namely that "neither of the parties should disrupt the way things had been conducted during the marriage, i.e. that the status quo should be maintained until the court can address the issues.
It is impossible for the Rhode Island General Assembly to anticipate each and every scenario that might occur between spouses during the course of a divorce and include them within Rhode Island General Law 15-5-14.1. To expect that the Rhode Island General Assembly to do so would create a law that was so long that it could take up a half a book in Domestic Relations section.
The mandates contained in Title 15-5-14.1 are merely a minimum standard intended to set forth for the judiciary several specific types of activity that are common to many marriages but does nothing to a limit the discretionary power of the family court judge to determine the interpretation of the law and what its intent is.
When taking actions within a divorce, I always advise my clients not to play games with the Automatic Orders.
Your Rhode Island Divorce Lawyer,
Christopher A. Pearsall, Attorney-at-Law
Law Office of Christopher A. Pearsall
70 Dogwood Drive
West Warwick, RI 02893
Phone: (401) 632-6976
Rhode Island's Most Affordable Divorce Lawyer - Caring About People
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