Process and Considerations of Divorce

Divorce can be a difficult topic, and can have an affect on both yourself and your family. Here at Fiona Bruce, we are there to help and advise you as best we can, every step of the way. Below we explain the process and considerations of divorce in further detail.

Your Guide to Starting a Divorce 

If your marriage has broken down you may wish to consider initiating a divorce, which many feel is both intimidating and stressful, at what is already a very difficult time. In our experience, conversations surrounding divorce can lead to communication deteriorating further, especially when people are hurting. 

We at Fiona Bruce aim to assist you during this process, by progressing the necessary documentation to finalise the divorce on your behalf; and assisting in focusing on reaching an agreement, to enable you and any children you may have, to move forward. 

Is divorce the right option for me? 

You may wish to consider alternative options, such as: 

1. Judicial Separation 

2. Separation Agreements

These options are useful for parties who may not wish to proceed with a divorce for reasons such as religious or moral beliefs. However, neither option will legally bring an end to a marriage, and instead focuses on the separation of the parties, or specifically splitting the assets of the marriage. However, you may find that even if you proceed with either of the above options, you may in the future need to proceed with a divorce to legally obtain an end to the marriage, as well as a clean break matrimonial consent order to prevent any further financial claims being made by your spouse in the future. 

How do I start a divorce?

If you would like to begin the divorce process, you must be able to confirm to the Court that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. This is done by proving one of the following five grounds: 

1. Adultery

2. Unreasonable behaviour 

3. Two years’ separation with consent of the other party

4. Desertion

5. Five years’ separation 

Why use a solicitor? 

You can prepare your own divorce petition online, however by choosing to not have an expert prepare the documentation, you are potentially at risk of incorrectly preparing the documentation, which could delay matters, and/or have a serious impact on any further decisions or options available to you, both in respect of the divorce and the matrimonial finances. 

The divorce process:

Firstly, the petition is prepared using one of the five grounds set out above. For example, if the ground of unreasonable behaviour is cited, we would require information from you as to your spouse’s unreasonable behaviour which has led to the breakdown of the marriage. 

The petition is then filed with the Court, along with your marriage certificate and the Court fee (currently £550). There is potential for fee remission i.e. waiving of the fee subject to you being on a limited income or means-tested benefits. 

The petition is then issued by the Court, and sent back out to both parties. Under cover of this documentation your spouse is asked to respond to the Court by way of the Acknowledgement of Service. If your spouse refuses to respond there are options available to progress your matter. We will discuss these with you as and when it becomes necessary. 

Once the Acknowledgement has been returned, and there is no suggestion of your spouse seeking to defend the petition, the Court will forward a copy of this to you and ask you to apply for Decree Nisi. A defended petition is rare, but does happen on occasion. 

We will then be preparing the necessary documentation to apply for pronouncement of your Decree Nisi, the first stage in the two-stage process to confirm you are no longer married. The documentation is submitted to Court and placed before a District Judge for the first time. They consider the documentation and if they are content that you have proved your ground, we will receive a certificate confirming the date that your Decree Nisi will be pronounced. 

Once your Decree Nisi has been pronounced, you must wait at least six weeks and one day before you are able to apply for your Decree Absolute, the document which means you are no longer married. If you do not apply for it at this time, your spouse can apply for the Decree Absolute three months after. 

At this stage, we confirm it would be advisable to delay applying for the Decree Absolute until such time that financial matters have been agreed between the parties, or the matter is resolved by way of a Court Order within financial proceedings. The reason for delay is to attempt to protect your claim as a spouse against matrimonial assets which may be in your spouse’s name, such as pensions and properties. 

Finances 

It is very important that as part of the divorce process, you also obtain a financial consent order, which includes clean break clauses confirming neither party can make any further claim against the other going forward. This document is usually prepared by a solicitor and then submitted to Court with a Court fee (currently £50). 

In order to obtain this order, we would suggest there are four options available to you: 

1. You and your spouse reach an agreement in respect of the split of the assets and present the detail of that to me to place into the form of a consent order. 

2. You and your spouse attend mediation to see if an agreement can be reached. Any agreement reached would still need to be put into the form of a consent order. 

3. The parties consent to provide detailed financial disclosure to their solicitors, to then be exchanged with the other. This is then considered in detail before offers of settlement are put forward on yours and your spouse’s behalf, to see if the parties can reach agreement

4. If the other above options are not able to resolve matters, the remaining option would be to initiate financial proceedings. This is the most expensive and stressful route for parties, as it does involve having to attend Court. 

Other concerns you may wish to consider at this time 

If you are intending to move forward with a divorce then we would advise it is important that other matters are considered at this time. We would advise that you update your Will so that your current wishes can be reflected. 

If you do not have a Will, we would advise that you should obtain advice from a Wills solicitor to ensure you are aware as to your current position and risks as under the Intestacy Rules your spouse has the potential to inherit from your estate until such time your Decree Absolute has been obtained. 

Here at Fiona Bruce, we have specialist Family lawyers who can advise on matrimonial law, including divorce, separation and resolution of finances. If you would like more information, please contact our Practice Development Manager Richard Bruce for more information. 

The contents of this article do not constitute legal advice and are provided for general information purposes only.