If your marriage has irretrievably broken down and you wish to divorce your spouse, you will need to follow the divorce procedure below to legally end your marriage. At present in the UK, there is officially only one ‘ground’ for divorce, which is that your marriage has irretrievably broken down.
To file for a divorce you must prove this by establishing one of the five following factors; desertion, adultery, unreasonable behaviour, separation of two years (with consent) or separation of five years (no consent required).
Steps:
The first step for any divorce is to file the divorce petition, which is completed by the Petitioner and filed with a regional divorce centre.
Within the divorce petition, it must detail the reason why your marriage has broken down.
When you submit your divorce petition you will need to provide the court with your marriage certificate and pay the court fee of £550, unless you are on a low income or receive certain benefits, in which case you may be entitled to court fee remission.
The second stage of the divorce proceedings involves the court sending a copy of the divorce petition to your spouse, with an Acknowledgement of Service form that they need to complete and return within seven days.
The Acknowledgement of Service form confirms to the court that; your spouse has received the divorce papers and they are happy with the reasons for the divorce as well as the wording used.
Once the respondent has sent back the Acknowledgement of Service form to the court, the petitioner can then apply for the decree nisi.
Decree nisi is an order by a court of law stating the date on which a marriage will end unless a good reason not to grant a divorce is produced.
The final step, once a date has been set, is it apply for the final decree this can be done six weeks and one day after the date given by the court. This application typically takes two weeks, which will then formally and legally end your marriage.
Keeping things amicable…
Here are a few suggestions for keeping, what is a stressful and upsetting situation as amicable as possible:
- Plan how to tell your spouse you wish to divorce any why
- Keep ‘blame’ out of the situation wherever possible
- Focus on any children involved and place their needs first
- Be patient with your spouse and give them time to adjust
- Negotiate the terms of any settlements in good faith, be fair, and stick to agreements made
Contact us now and let us guide you through the process of divorce. You are in safe hands at Palmers Solicitors. Our Family Law practitioners are members of Resolution and comply with the Resolution Code of Practice. We aim to offer both legal and practical advice, in what may be a particularly difficult time in your life.