Guides

A Divorce or Dissolution involves the following steps:

1. One party (the Petitioner) petitions for divorce by filing the papers with the Court.  The other party is known as the Respondent.  The Court serves the papers, but if there are problems then it is up to the Petitioner to deal with this.

2. Following service of the papers the Respondent can agree to the divorce, oppose the divorce or fail to respond in time.  Where they agree or fail to respond then you are entitled to apply for Directions for Trial as long as you can prove service of the Petition.

3. Where Directions for Trial are requested a Judge considers the papers.  If satisfied that a divorce/dissolution is appropriate then a date is fixed for pronouncement of Decree Nisi/a Conditional Order.  This is not the full divorce/dissolution. Where a divorce/dissolution is opposed the court will give full Directions for Trial, leading to a contested hearing.

4. Where a contested hearing takes place it is necessary for the Petitioner to prove the Petition.  However, the court often takes the view that the hearing itself is proof that the marriage/civil partnership is over and as long as a solicitor who knows what they are doing is dealing with the case it is rare that a Decree/Conditional Order is not granted.

5. Following Decree Nisi/a Conditional Order, unless there is good reason to allow it sooner, an application for Decree Absolute/a Final Order can only be made once 6 weeks have passed.  Normally it should be applied for within 12 months, but until the finances are sorted out it may not be sensible to do this.  Until Decree Absolute/Final Order the divorce/dissolution is not final.

We provide further guides on how the procedure works as set out below.  The guides follow the logical sequence of a divorce/dissolution petition.  However, if you cannot find what you are looking for please either use the search function (top right of the page) or e-mail us with your question.