Temporary Orders

A temporary order is a legally binding short term divorce decree that sets forth some guidelines for both parties in a divorce. The temporary order is binding until the divorce court makes its final divorce decree. Here are some of the guidelines that may exist in the order:

- Specify who gets to live in the house (marital residence)
- Who is able to write checks from certain bank accounts (joint, etc…)
- Who is responsible for looking after the children
- Specify if one party is allowed to contact the other spouse
- Allow/disallow a spouse to transfer or spend money
- Allow/disallow one party to leave with the children

If these rules are not followed by either party, then they are considered in contempt of court, and may be ordered to appear in court. If they are ordered to appear in court but fail to show up, then the next step is to issue a bench warrant. A bench warrant results in the spouse being taken into custody. At that point jail time is a possibility, or in lesser cases they will have assets taken away.

Temporary orders are most commonly used when both parties are not able to come to an agreement on who has custody of the children during the divorce process.