If you are thinking of getting divorced and you have no idea where to start, here are some points you should be made aware of.
You need to be married for at least one year before you can commence divorce proceedings. To issue in England and Wales, your marriage does not have to have been registered in England and Wales but it does need to have been registered. Religious ceremonies for marriage without any registration will not be accepted by the Court of England and Wales.
You do not need to be living apart to commence divorce proceedings. Many people believe they have to physically separate before they can start divorce proceedings however this is not the case. If you are living under the same roof, you will need to lead separate lives as far as possible to demonstrate to the Court that you are not living as a married couple. Therefore, eating together, sleeping in the same room, doing each other’s laundry are all examples of a couple who continue to live together as husband and wife. This will not be accepted by the court so bear this in mind when separating and continuing to live under the same roof.
You will need to decide who is the Petitioner and who is the Respondent. The Petitioner is the one who starts the divorce process and essentially, is divorcing the other spouse. The Petitioner will need to confirm that the marriage has irretrievably broken down because this forms the ground for the divorce. Furthermore, the Petitioner must also choose one of five grounds to divorce upon. Those five grounds are as follows;
a) Unreasonable behaviour
b) Two Years Separation With Consent
c) Desertion
d) Adultery
e) Five Years Separation Without Consent
If you need further advice on which fact to choose, please feel free to contact us for advice.
The Petitioner needs to complete a divorce petition which can be downloaded from www.justice.gov.uk. Once the petition has been completed, signed and dated, it must be lodged at the divorce centre most local to you, in triplicate (three copies). Three copies are required because one copy is retained by the divorce centre/Court, one copy is sent to you and one copy is sent to your spouse, after the Court have allocated the case a case number and sealed the application for divorce with a Court stamp. If you are unsure as to which divorce centre you should send your application for divorce to, please contact us and we can assist you.
A Court fee is also payable which is currently £550.00. This is a one-off fee that you will pay unless interim applications are required and/or your application for divorce is defended by your spouse.
Your spouse will receive a copy of the petition together with a form they will need to complete and return to the Court. This form is called an Acknowledgement of Service form i.e. acknowledging service (receipt) of the divorce papers. In this form, they will confirm if they are the named Respondent, the date and address at which they received the form, whether they intend to defend the divorce application and if you have asked your spouse to pay for your costs (legal fees and court fees) then your spouse will be able to confirm if they agree to pay your costs or not.
Once the form has been sent back to the court, the court will then stamp this with their Court seal and send the form onto you. You then use this form to form part of your application for the conditional divorce, otherwise known as the Decree Nisi.
You will then receive notification from the Court to confirm when your Decree Nisi will be pronounced or the Court may ask you more questions about the information you have stated in your application if they are not fully satisfied that you are entitled to a divorce. Examples could be for instance that you continue to share your daily tasks living under the same roof.
Once your Decree Nisi has been pronounced, you will receive a certificate of entitlement to a Decree Nisi in the post. Six weeks and one day after the date of the Decree Nisi, you can apply for your Decree Absolute which is the certificate which officially confirms you are divorced. Before doing so, it is advisable to seek legal advice to address any outstanding children and/or financial matters.
In the event that your spouse does not return the Acknowledgement of Service Form to the Court, you will need to prove to the Court that they have received the papers by way of an interim application. Please contact us for more advice on this given that different strategies will apply depending upon the circumstances. Please ensure you retain any records of confirmation from your spouse confirming they have received the divorce papers because this can be used to support your interim application for your divorce to continue without their involvement.
If you would like further advice, please do not hesitate to email us at info@boselegal.co.uk or call us on 07539 744144.