Divorce proceeding may be issued by either the husband or wife after one year of marriage.
It can be issued on the basis of one of five grounds.
- Unreasonable behaviour
- Adultery
- Two years separation and consent
- Desertion
- Five years separation
The most commonly used grounds are unreasonable behaviour, adultery and two years separation and consent.
Unreasonable behaviour
If you issue proceedings on the basis of your spouse’s unreasonable behaviour, you must satisfy the court that your spouse has behaved in such a way that you cannot reasonably be expected to continue to live with them.
To demonstrate this, a written statement is usually made containing sufficient allegations of your spouse’s unreasonable behaviour. It is not possible for you to seek a divorce citing your own unreasonable behaviour.
Adultery
In the case of adultery, the most straightforward way to prove that your spouse has committed adultery is for them to be willing to admit this.
If they are unwilling to do so, then it may be advisable to issue your petition on the basis of their unreasonable behaviour instead.
There is also a time limit of six months from finding out about the adultery to issuing a petition for divorce. Once that time is up, you won’t be able to use adultery as a reason.
Two years separation and consent
In the case of two years separation and consent, you must confirm to the court that you have been living separately from your spouse (not necessarily in separate homes) for a period of at least two years. Your spouse must confirm to the court that they consent to the divorce.
What happens next?
Once you have issued your divorce petition your spouse must complete an ‘acknowledgement of service’ form and return this to the court.
This form is your spouse’s response to the divorce proceedings and confirms whether or not they intend to defend the divorce.
It is very rarely necessary for either party to divorce proceedings to need to attend court; usually they are completed by posting documentation to the court and receiving written responses.
If the district judge is satisfied that you are entitled to a divorce then they will fix a date for your ‘decree nisi’ to be pronounced. The decree nisi is an order by the court stating the date when the marriage will end, unless a valid reason for not granting a divorce comes to light.
It is not necessary for you to attend court for this hearing as it is pronounced automatically.
You must then wait six weeks and one day from the date of your decree nisi before applying for your ‘decree absolute’.
This is the legal document that declares the marriage dissolved, and once declared means your divorce is finalised.
The court will provide a sealed decree absolute for your records which can be used as evidence that you are divorced.
If you would like to discuss this or any other family law matter, please contact Janine Hutson on 01772 258321, or at janine.hutson@harrison-drury.com
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