The divorce process is started when a spouse or their attorney fills out a summons and a divorce complaint and has a state marshal serve these forms on the opposing spouse. Once the forms have been served on the opposing spouse, the party initiating the divorce must file these documents in the proper courthouse along with a document from the marshal certifying that the divorce forms were correctly served. The initial divorce forms must be filed in a courthouse within the judicial district where either one of the spouses resides. The courthouse where the case is filed will generally remain the courthouse where the divorce case is litigated, though there are certain exceptions to this rule.