Applying for Divorce: The Process
If you are considering applying for divorce, then there are a number of steps you’ll need to follow.
The first thing you will need to remember is the more you and your husband or wife agree about, the quicker the process will be. If you and your spouse disagree on key issues, the divorce can take much longer.
Applying for Divorce: How Divorce in the UK Works
When applying for divorce, you’ll need go through three key stages.
These stages can take about four months if you and your spouse agree on the following:
- the reasons you want to divorce
- how you’ll look after children
- how you’ll split up money, property and possessions
Applying for Divorce: Stages of a Divorce
The formal divorce process has four steps.
1. Deciding the reasons for divorce
To divorce, you’ll need to prove to the court the reasons why you want your marriage to end. These are known as ‘facts’ and ‘grounds’ for divorce.
2. File a divorce petition
Another key point is that one of you will need to apply to court for a divorce. You do this by filling in and sending a divorce petition to a court, or alternatively one of our solicitors can do this for you. For more information on petitioning for divorce please click here
3. Applying for a ‘decree nisi’
If you’ve sent your divorce petition to court and your spouse has told the court they agree, you can move to the next stage. This is applying for a ‘decree nisi’ – a document that says the court sees no reason why you can’t divorce.
4. Getting a decree absolute
The ‘decree absolute’ is the document that legally ends your marriage.
If you started the divorce, you can apply for a ‘decree absolute’ six weeks after the court issues the decree nisi.
If your spouse started the divorce you can apply for a ‘decree absolute’ after an additional three months. So you would have to wait three months and six days after the decree nisi was issued before you could apply.
Indeed, once you have the decree absolute, you are officially divorced.
Applying for Divorce: Things that may slow down your divorce
If the court thinks that your plans for looking after children aren’t satisfactory, it can refuse to grant a divorce, in which case, you’ll need to work out new plans and start the process again.
If you can’t reach an agreement on money, property and possessions, you may have to get the court to decide. A ‘financial order’ (sometimes known as an ‘ancillary relief order’) is a formal arrangement made in court. It’s a separate process to the divorce and, in many cases, the formal divorce will be finalised before you complete the financial order process.
For further help and advice with any divorce, please contact us using the contact form on this page.
