Steps to Divorce

During divorce proceedings or the dissolution of a civil partnership, there may be three principal areas in which you seek advice: divorce/dissolution, finance and children. We have prepared this brief sketch to help you understand the stages through which you will be going, and to help you gain some perspective on those procedures. We know that separation can be stressful, and we see it as our role to assist you at a difficult time, and to guide you through the stages and procedures.

 

 

Divorce is how a marriage is brought to an end and dissolution is how a civil partnership is brought to an end. The process for both is virtually identical and is often the simplest element of the proceedings. The procedure is formal, conducted entirely on paper and almost always without the need for any court appearances.

For a judge to approve a divorce or dissolution, you have to show that the relationship has irretrievably broken down. This is done by proving one of five (four in the case of a dissolution) facts:

The person applying for the divorce or dissolution is called the petitioner, and the other person is called the respondent. If a third person is mentioned, as in an adultery case, that person is called the co- respondent.

 

The petitioner’s solicitors will prepare a divorce petition, which gives details of the marriage, and the set of facts on which the divorce is sought. A very similar document is required in the case of dissolution. At the same time, if there are children, a statement will be prepared setting out the present and proposed arrangements for the children. Both the petition, and the statement, is sent, usually through the court, to the respondent.

 

The respondent will fill in a form acknowledging the petition or application, and the court will return to the court office and this form then to the petitioner’s solicitors.

 

The petitioner will then make a sworn statement – an affidavit – confirming that the documentation is true, and apply for a decree nisi. If the district judge is satisfied a date will be given for the decree nisi to be declared at the court. There is no need for anyone to be at court for this declaration. Six weeks after the decree nisi, the petitioner can apply for a decree absolute. This is the final divorce or dissolution order, and ends the marriage or civil partnership.

 

The granting of a decree absolute automatically affects an existing Will. It is therefore important to consider making a new Will due to the change in your circumstances.

 

 

The financial aspects of divorce/dissolution are sometimes known as ancillary relief, and will often take considerably longer, and be more involved, than the divorce or dissolution itself. Every family is different, and therefore the course of reaching a financial settlement can be subject to infinite variations. The objective should be to reach a mutually acceptable agreement by negotiation, and then to set out that.

 

An important element in reaching a settlement is called disclosure, where each side gives full details to the other of his/her financial circumstances. A just settlement should take account of the money and assets available, and the needs of both sides, striking a balance between those elements. Two households are more expensive to run than one, and it is likely that there will be less to go round than when the husband and wife were together. If one person refuses to give details of his or her finances, the judge has wide powers to order those details to be given; the judge can order the costs of a case to be paid by the obstructive person, and can make assumptions that he/she has something to hide. The law is however likely to be amended very soon to give a presumption that each party will pay their own costs – it is currently unclear as to how a judge would deal with a recaltriant party.

 

The final court order, whether made by agreement or not, will usually deal with capital , maintenance and pensions. An order about capital will generally be final, and unchangeable. An order about maintenance can sometimes be varied later if circumstances change.

 

 

If the judge feels that the arrangements for children are reasonably satisfactory, no order will be made about where the children should live, or what level of contact there should be. Except in unusual circumstances, the law leaves it to the parents to sort those matters out in the best interests of the children, and will not interfere or impose an order in the nature of the old custody and access orders.

The court also now has limited powers to deal with maintenance for children, and although it is possible, and of course desirable, to agree a level of maintenance, this will not usually form part of a court order. This is because recourse in the case of disagreement is to the Child Support Agency, which calculates maintenance according to a rigid formula. Because of the rigidities of this formula, and the criticisms and delays to which the CSA has been subject, many people prefer to avoid the Agency’s intervention.

 

 

We are well aware that divorce, as well as being personally stressful, can be financially so. We will tell you at the outset of your case how our costs are calculated, although we usually give a good estimate of the total cost of the divorce itself, dealing with the financial aspects is almost impossible to cost in advance; sometimes early agreement can be reached, in which case the charges will be modest, but sometimes negotiations can go on for many months, and charges would reflect the time taken in our involvement – we will always try and keep you informed of the costs incurred, and will submit periodic accounts. We will usually ask for payments on account of work which we expect to be doing and expenses which we expect to incur.

 

These notes can only be an outline of the procedures involved, and cannot be a definitive statement of all aspects of the relevant law.

 

We hope, however, that these prove useful to you in understanding the nature of divorce proceedings; every case is, of course, different, and we regard each and every client as important and individual. We seek, in the service we offer to provide a culture of exceptional care; care for our clients, for our own staff, and for the quality of work we do. We hope that, through and after divorce or dissolution proceedings, we succeed in those objectives, and that you will feel that we have represented your interests firmly and fairly, without seeking to inflame difficult situations or be other than your advocate.