Common Questions About the Automatic Orders in Divorce

When you are going through a divorce, one of the first documents you will review (and if you have not, you should) are the automatic orders that accompany any complaint. In Connecticut, these are legally binding restrictions that, if you are the person who brings the divorce, apply to you when the complaint is signed; if you are the other person, the automatic orders apply to you from the time you are served with the complaint.

Many attorneys will describe the automatic orders generally as intended to maintain the financial “status quo” during divorce proceedings. This generalization can be misleading and confusing to parties because it suggests that literally nothing can change financially and that everything must remain exactly the same as it was the day the divorce started. That, however, is not true. In fact, there are many everyday situations where the  automatic orders do not provide any guidance.

Here are some of the common related questions that come up during the divorce process, and whether the automatic orders actually provide protection:

1. Can my spouse stop depositing his or her pay into our joint account? Yes. The automatic orders do not prevent this change and it is one that parties often implement when an action starts.
2. Can I withdraw money from our joint account and deposit it into my own account? No. This would be a violation of the automatic orders because it is changing the nature of the funds from joint to sole.
3. Can I change the beneficiary on my life insurance? No. Beneficiaries of life insurance cannot be changed while the case is pending absent agreement or court order.
4. Can I change the beneficiary on my retirement account? Yes. The automatic orders do not restrict changes to retirement beneficiaries.
5. Can I change my will? Yes. However, Connecticut has something known as a spousal election statute which may mean that your spouse will inherit upon your death while a divorce is pending even if your will does not provide for such spouse.
6. Can I remove my spouse from our health insurance plan? No. The automatic orders prevent a spouse from removing the other from medical, hospital and/or dental insurance.
7. Can my spouse remove me as an authorized user on a credit card or reduce my credit limit? Yes to both. The automatic orders do not speak to the use of credit cards other than a prohibition on either party unreasonably using credit cards.
8. Does my spouse have to continue to pay all the household bills? Yes and No. If the household bill in question is one specified by the automatic orders, which are only medical, hospital and dental insurance, homeowners’ insurance, car insurance and renters’ insurance, then those must be maintained. However, no other household bills are specified in the automatic orders.

If you have a question about whether something is or is not permitted by the automatic orders, you should check with your attorney first. Contact Pullman Comley’s Family Law practice to learn about how we can help.