GETTING DIVORCED AN OUTLINE OF DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS
Divorce can be a difficult and distressing experience with decisions to be made about the welfare of children, who owns what, and what is to happen to the family home. We can advise you about all aspects of divorce and assist you through the maze of decisions to be made. Before we explain the divorce procedure, there are basic facts, which you should, know:• • To obtain a divorce you must have been married for at least one year. You have to show that your marriage has broken down and cannot be saved. (“irretrievable breakdown”)
To prove that your marriage has broken down irretrievably, you have to establish one or more of the following five facts:• • Your spouse has committed adultery and you feel that you cannot tolerate living with him or her. Your spouse has behaved in such a way that you cannot be expected to live with him or her. This can cover a wide range of behaviour for example:Not showing any love and affection, drinking too much, being irresponsible with money, leading a completely separate life or violence. Your spouse has deserted you for at least two years. You and your spouse have lived apart for at least two years and your spouse agrees to your obtaining a divorce. You and your spouse have lived apart for at least five years. In this case, the consent of the other spouse does not need to be obtained, but that spouse can delay the divorce being made final until financial issues have been resolved.
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. Once it is established that one of the facts applies to you, you may then start divorce proceedings. This involves the following steps:• Your solicitor will prepare all the papers, which need to be presented to the Court to start the divorce. These are:The DIVORCE PETITION: This tells the Court the names and addresses of both you and your spouse, the details of your marriage
and children and includes an explanation as to why the marriage has broken down and details of the facts to show this; If there are children, a STATEMENT OF ARRANGEMENTS for the children will have to be prepared. This tells the Court about the arrangements you propose for the children after the divorce as well as factual details about the ages of the children, the schools they attend and the type of accommodation you live in. The Statement of Arrangements also includes details about how much time each parent spends with the children and who looks after then and whether these arrangements will change once the divorce has been granted. It is important to remember that children have a right to go on seeing both parents regardless of whom they live with. The interest and well being of the children are of paramount importance to the Court and the divorce may not be granted unless the Court is satisfied about the arrangements for the children; Your MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE must also be submitted to the Court. Your solicitor will ask you for all the information needed to prepare these papers and once this is done, will show them to you for approval. If appropriate, your solicitor will write to your spouse informing that you wish to bring divorce proceedings and confirming any present arrangements concerning the children, including contact arrangements. In this letter, your solicitor will also advise your spouse to consult a solicitor in another firm. • Your solicitor will then submit all the documents to the Court which will in turn send to your spouse by post and give your spouse a notice explaining that divorce proceedings have been issued and that a form called an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE attached to the notice must be completed by your spouse and returned to the Court. This will tell the Court that the documents have been received and whether or not the divorce is contested. Once the Acknowledgement has been completed and returned, your solicitor will prepare a document confirming whether the contents of your Petition and Statement of Arrangements are still correct. This document is called an AFFIDAVIT. You will have to swear the truth to this statement before either a solicitor in another firm or a Court Official. If you choose to swear the Affidavit before a solicitor, you will be charged a small fee. It is free of charge to swear the Affidavit in the Court Office. You will also have to sign another form requesting that the Court give directions as to how your divorce will proceed. A District Judge at the Court will consider all the divorce papers and decide whether or not the divorce should be granted. If the District Judge is satisfied that it should be granted, he or she will fix a date for the first part of the divorce, called “DECREE NISI”, to be read out in Court. When considering whether the divorce should be granted he or she will carefully consider the Statement of Arrangements in respect of the children and the issue of the costs of the divorce, if appropriate. Only the names of the parties are called out in Court. The details of the Petition are not revealed and neither you nor your spouse need attend the Court. At this stage, you are still married, as the Decree Nisi does not bring the marriage to an end.
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Once six weeks have elapsed, the Petitioner may apply to the Court for the marriage to be brought to an end. This is called “DECREE ABSOLUTE”. The Court will then send to you a Certificate to confirm that your marriage has ended which you will need to show in the event that you decide to remarry.
These are the basic stages involved in a divorce, but as well as the divorce itself, there are other relevant factors which you may need to think about.
Timescale:
From the issue of a Divorce Petition until the granting of a Decree Absolute, it may take on average between four and six months. There may be good reasons to delay making application for the Decree Absolute until financial matters between the Petitioner and the Respondent have been resolved which may take much longer. We will advise you about this. Similarly, if the Respondent to the Petition does not return their Acknowledgement of Service promptly or seek to defend the proceedings, then matters can take considerably longer to be concluded.
Change of Mind:
If you are the Petitioner in divorce proceedings, you may decide that at some stage, you do not wish to proceed with your divorce. Provided that the Decree Nisi of divorce has not been pronounced then you may dismiss the proceedings relatively simply. Once the Decree Nisi has been pronounced, the situation is more complicated and you would need to discuss this with us. If you are the Respondent, once you have completed and filed your Acknowledgement of Service, both the timetable for the divorce proceedings and the withdrawal or termination of proceedings are within the control of the Petitioner.
Children:
• The interests and welfare of the children must always come first. The Children Act 1989 is based upon the belief that children need the love and support of both of their parents irrespective of whether the parents are together, and when parents split up, they should still ensure that they communicate sensibly about arrangements for the children. Consequently, there is now far less intervention by the Court over arrangements for children. Whenever possible, the Court will not make an Order as it is preferable for arrangements to be agreed between the parents. The Children Act introduces the concept of parental responsibility, which means that parents have responsibilities towards children and not rights over them. Where the parents are or have been married to each other, each parent has parental responsibility and therefore can make decisions relating to the children. Obviously, it is easier and far more practical for the parent with whom the children are living to make the day to day decisions in the children’s lives.
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In cases where agreement cannot be reached, and where the Court feels that its intervention is required to safeguard the interest of the children, the Court may make one or more of 4 possible Orders:A RESIDENCE ORDER: with whom the child should live. Setting out where and
A CONTACT ORDER: Setting out with whom the child should maintain contact and possible defining the contact arrangements. A SPECIFIC ISSUE ORDER: The Court can make an Order about a particular issue which cannot be agreed by the parents, for example, where a child should go to school. A PROHIBITED STEPS ORDER: The Court can make an Order prohibiting an action in regard to a child. For example, to prevent the child from being taken abroad. An information brochure is available on request which offers more detailed information about child related matters.
Financial Matters:
The best way to resolve financial matters between you and your spouse is to try and reach an agreement, which can be put before the Court for approval. You should try and agree what will happen to your home and its contents and agree any payments, which are to be made between you, and your spouse. If you are unable to reach an agreement, you may make an application to the Court. In this event, you will have to provide the Court with full details of all your finances, what income and outgoings you have, whether you have any savings or whether you have any other assets. The Court will look at the financial needs of both you and your husband or wife. Its primary concern will be what provision is necessary for the children. The Court can then make appropriate orders for maintenance payments, a lump sum payment or orders dealing with the matrimonial home.
Mediation:
It may be that to achieve settlement regarding either children or financial matters, the assistance of a Mediator would help both you and your spouse. Public funding is available in cases where there is financial eligibility. Please ask for information about the Mediation process and/or the details of eligibility for publicly funded assistance.
Public Funding:
You may be eligible for legal help in connection with your divorce. If this is the case, we will advise you accordingly. If there is a dispute about the children or financial matters, you may also be eligible for funding which could enable you to issue or respond to an application to Court. Your Solicitor will advise you whether you are eligible for either of these schemes.
Welfare Benefits and Advice:
The firm considers clients potential regarding their entitlement to welfare benefits. If a referral to a specialist agency is necessary we can offer you all necessary information to secure this help.
Making a Will:
It is important to remember that until Decree Absolute, you are still married to your spouse. In the event of your death, he or she would inherit under a will anything left to your “spouse”. If you die during the course of divorce proceedings without leaving a Will, you will be intestate and your spouse will automatically be a beneficiary of your estate. It is therefore important that you consider making a Will or altering an existing Will as soon as you have decided to commence divorce proceedings. We will be happy to assist and advise you about this and to offer specialist assistance should you require it.
Your Home:
During the course of the divorce proceedings it may be necessary for your house to be sold in order to achieve an agreed division of the assets of your marriage. Our Conveyancing Department will be pleased to advise you about the sale of a property and purchase of a new one. It is also important to consider with us how the property is owned with your spouse as this could affect what happened to the property if you predecease your spouse before the marriage is dissolved by Decree Absolute.
Changing your Name:
You may wish to change your name once you have been divorced. If you wish to revert to your maiden name, this can be done without any formality whatsoever. If you wish to change your surname to another surname, this can be effected by a Change of Name Deed, which we will be happy to prepare for you. If you wish to change the surname of your child, you will only be able to do this with written permission of the other parent or if this is not forthcoming, the approval of the Court. In this event, the Court will have to be satisfied that it is in the best interests for the child to have his name changed, and again we will be happy to advise you about this. If there are any questions, which you would like to ask about divorce, please do not hesitate to contact us.