What is a Divorce Counterclaim?
The concept of counterclaim in divorce is a lawsuit that allows individuals to defend themselves over their own arguments while a divorce case is underway. The case of filing a lawsuit that includes its own reasons for divorce, unlike the reason for the divorce on which the other party is based, after a divorce lawsuit filed against it, is called a counterclaim in a divorce lawsuit. For example, a person who has been sued for divorce due to abandonment can file a counter-claim due to violence in order to be able to defend that his wife has committed violence against him during the divorce case and that he has left the house for this reason. In divorce cases, the faulty party may experience loss of rights in matters such as alimony, custody and compensation. For this reason, it is absolutely beneficial to file a counterclaim in divorce so that the other party can be shown as defective in the events that bring about the divorce.
How to File Against Divorce?
In order to be able to file a counterclaim in divorce cases, certain conditions must be fulfilled according to Article 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100. At the point where the conditions in the aforementioned article are not fulfilled, a counterclaim cannot be filed while the divorce case is pending. In the absence of these conditions, the lawsuit to be filed will not be a counterclaim, but will be seen as a different lawsuit. However, in divorce cases, the counterclaim is pursued according to the procedure of combining the two cases and being seen together.
Conditions for Filing Against Divorce
In order for the defendant to file a counterclaim, the main divorce case must not have been concluded. After the divorce case is concluded, a counterclaim cannot be filed in divorce.
In the divorce case, the demands that can be requested in the counterclaim should be in a clearing or offsetting relationship with the demands in the original divorce case. Or there must be a link between the counterclaim and the main case. If this is not the case, it is not possible to file a counterclaim in divorce.
The Code of Civil Procedure has decreed that these two conditions must be fulfilled in order to file a counterclaim in the divorce case. If a counterclaim is filed in an ongoing divorce case and it is determined that these conditions are not fulfilled, the case is carried out in the form of two different divorce cases. These two cases cannot be combined. In cases where it deems necessary, the court may order that the second case filed as a counterclaim be sent to the competent court.
How to File a Counterclaim in a Divorce Case?
While the divorce case is pending, the counterclaim can be filed together with the response petition for the main divorce case, or it can also be filed as a different divorce case while the answering period continues. In cases to be filed when the required time to file a counterclaim expires, the judge distinguishes between the main divorce case and the divorce case filed as a counterclaim.
