Family, collaborative Law and Mediation

DIVORCE

Starting your divorce proceedings immediately requires one of two grounds. Either your spouse has committed adultery or their behaviour has been such that you cannot be expected to live with them.

Otherwise you may have to wait until you have been separated for at least two years, then you together may agree to the divorce proceeding. If there is no agreement you may have to wait until you have been separated for five years or more.

Your divorce will usually be completed within about four months. There are two main stages after the petiton has been issued, the Decree Nisi and then, after a period of six weeks and one day the Decree Absolute.

An agreement dealing with financial, property, pension, and other related matters may possibly be submitted to the Court. The “consent agreement” will have to be approved by the Court, after which its terms will be binding upon you both.

If there is no immediate agreement, negotiations usually resolve the issues, and end in a consent order being made.

Court proceedings may be commenced if no agreement is possible, but these are not common.

The current government and the court, encourages parties to reach agreements. And so very rarely a contested hearing takes place when the Court makes a decision for you both.

Costs will depend on how protracted the case becomes, so it is in everyone’s interest to resolve matters early on. Only Costs of the divorce proceedings themselves may be recovered from the other side (subject to court approval). Usually each party will pay for their own costs of the ancillary matters, (disputes over property etc.) As you are to pay your own costs, you may make arrangements with us as to how these are to be paid. Sometimes you are eligible to receive some assistance from public funds, but usually these will have to be repaid out of funds you recover or property you preserve.

If you have children, the Court require a statement setting out their circumstances. Usually there are no issues but if there are you will not be able to finalise your divorce these issues have been resolved. The court can be asked to decide on outstanding matters. Sometimes the court procedures do take some time to reach a solution so we try to do all we can to solve outstanding matters.

TELEPHONE: 0800 135 7917 (No Charge)