You need to send 2 copies of your completed petition, 2 copies of the completed statement of arrangements for the children (if you have any), your marriage certificate and a cheque for £300 made payable to H.M.C.S. to the divorce county court of your choice. If you are on a low income, you may be exempt from this fee. The county court will have an application form for this. If you are divorcing for adultery and want the person your partner has had sex with to be a party to the proceedings, you need to send 3 copies of the documents. If you don’t have your marriage certificate, you can order a copy on-line at http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates. The ordinary service costs £7, the priority service £23.
You will be known as the Petitioner, your partner will be known as the Respondent and, in adultery proceedings where the person is named, this person will be known as the Co-Respondent.
The court will enter the case in their list and give it a number – prefaced by ‘D’. They will inform you of this number. You must use this in all future documentation and when writing to the court.
What happens next?
A copy of the petition and statement of arrangements (where there are children) will be sent to the Respondent and Co-Respondent (where there is one) together with an acknowledgement of service form. This form gives them the opportunity to say whether they agree with the divorce and statement of arrangements or not. Once returned to the court you will receive a copy of it.
If the acknowledgement of service is not returned, you can apply to have the court bailiff serve the documents personally.
If the acknowledgement of service is returned but the Respondent doesn’t agree with the divorce, the case becomes, potentially, defended, and you may need some advice either from a solicitor.
The respondent agrees with the divorce, what do I do now?
Your next step is to apply to have the case entered in the special procedure list. You will need to complete an application form and swear or affirm an affidavit in support of your petition. This is like swearing an oath in court, but in writing. You will need to swear or affirm either in front of a solicitor/commissioner for oaths or at the county court office. A solicitor or commissioner for oaths will charge you for this service.
Will I need to go appear in front of the judge?
In the vast majority of cases where all parities agree, this will not be necessary. If the district judge is satisfied that the fact in the petition has been proved and satisfied with the arrangements for the children, a date will be fixed for the decree nisi. Unless notified to the contrary, you are not expected to attend this. If you do need to attend court, it’s extremely unlikely that it will be ‘public’. Most family proceedings are held in private, so you do not need to worry about your private life becoming public knowledge.
What are ‘decree nisi’ and ‘decree absolute’?
The ‘decree nisi’ shows that the court is satisfied that you have proved marital breakdown on the basis of your petition. It does not dissolve the marriage and having a decree nisi doesn’t mean you can re-marry. To end the marriage, you will need to apply for a decree absolute. You may do so 6 weeks after the date of the decree nisi. If you don’t, the respondent can apply 3 months after decree nisi.
Some things to remember:
Try to reach an agreement about costs. As petitioner, you can ask that the respondent (and co-respondent) pay your legal costs. If there is a dispute about who pays how much of the costs, you may have to attend court;
Make sure you keep a copy of everything you send to the court. This could be extremely useful if there are any queries;
Sample documents, guidelines and blank forms are available from us, either individually or in packs;
Our family law expert will be able to help you with any questions you have;
Alternatively, you can purchase our all-inclusive divorce service, where we will do all your drafting for you.
Important note about your will
When you were married, your old will became void. This does not happen on divorce or separation. If you never had a will anyway, maybe it is time that you did. We provide a range of template will documents to suit everyone, with loads of advice and over thirty easy-to-read free information articles about aspects of wills and tax. More
You can find links to information on wills here.Legal Wills
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Do not provide a complete or authoritative statement of the law;
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