Step 1

Are you eligible to apply for Divorce in England and Wales?

If you feel you are ready to commence Divorce proceedings you need to check that you satisfy the following criteria:

• You need to have been married for at least 12 months.
• You and/or your spouse need to be resident/domiciled in England and Wales and residing in England/Wales for at least six months prior to applying for divorce .
• Your marriage must have irretrievably broken down due to one of the 5 reasons listed below.

(a)Your spouse's adultery
(b)Your spouse's unreasonable behaviour*
(c)Desertion for a period of 2 years or more
(d)You have been separated from your spouse for a period of 2 years or more and your spouse consents to a divorce
(e)You have been separated from your spouse for a period of 5 years or more. (no consent required.)

*Please note a petition based on unreasonable behaviour must include detailed particulars of the unreasonable behaviour alleged to satisfy the courts that you have grounds for your divorce. It is not enough to list your reasons. The behaviour should be in the form of a narrative and you should provide a date when the last incident took place, or if the behaviour is still continuing you should say so. The behaviour should be such that it is deemed by the court to be unreasonable for you to continue being married to your partner. At least 6 incidents of the behaviour you are using to support your divorce should be shown.

Step 2

Petition for a Divorce

File Statement of Arrangements for Children (if applicable)

Pay fee of £300

Your application for a divorce (divorce petition) must be issued at a County Court that has authority to deal with divorce cases. If you are unsure which court to use, we will advise.

You will be required to complete a Petition for divorce and a Statement of Arrangements for Children if you have dependant children under the age of 18 years of age.

You need to provide a service address for papers to be posted to your spouse by the court.

[If you have been separated for more than 5 years it is not uncommon for you to have lost touch with your spouse and you do not know of their current whereabouts. In cases such as these you may apply to the court to dispense with service of the divorce papers, a further £40 fee is payable to the court to make this application.]

When we submit your divorce papers for issue with the County Court we must ensure that:-

1. You have signed and dated the papers where indicated.
2. We have attached your original marriage certificate ( photocopy is not acceptable).
3. We have enclosed the appropriate fee of (£300.00)

Once your papers have been issued we will receive from the court a 'Notice of Issue' form which will advise us of the date the divorce was issued and inform us of the reference number allocated to your case. This 'case number' should be quoted in any communication that you have with the court.

Your spouse will be sent a set of the forms together with a form of reply (the Acknowledgement of Service) for him / her to complete.

He / She will be directed to send the completed reply form to the Court within fourteen days.

(If he/she fails to do so – then he/she is either contesting the divorce or simply is refusing to return the forms. In these circumstances you will need to consult a Solicitor as the divorce is no longer an “an agreed divorce” and cannot be progressed through Self-Divorce) .

The court will send us a copy of the signed reply Form and it is at this stage that we will be able to apply for your interim decree, called a 'Decree Nisi'.

Step 3

Affidavit in Support of Petition

In order to proceed with an Application for Decree Nisi the court will require us to complete a statement verifying what you have stated in your petition is true. This statement is (called an 'affidavit'). This statement once completed will be sent to you to be sworn before either a Solicitor who will charge you a small fee or before an officer at your County Court which is free of charge.

We recommend that, if possible you take your affidavit and application form to the County Court where the divorce has been issued, if practical, as not only is it free but it speeds the process up as you can hand your papers in at the same time.

When you attend court to swear your affidavit make sure you take with you:

1. The affidavit form.
2. The completed reply form (the Exhibit).

Once these papers have been sworn kindly return the same to us. We will submit the Application to the court and the Judge will review your file; if all the paperwork is in order he will grant you your Certificate.

This means that you are entitled to a Decree of divorce based on the grounds you stated in your divorce petition.

You will receive this “Certificate of Entitlement” from the court on which will be stated the date your Decree Nisi will be pronounced.

There is no need to attend this hearing.

After the date for the Decree Nisi has passed the Court will send us the Decree Nisi itself and this will then be sent to you.

Step 4

Six weeks and one day from the Decree Nisi date we will then be able to apply for the final decree, the ' Decree Absolute'.

For example if your Decree Nisi was issued on 1st May 2003 you would be able to submit your application for the final decree at a fee of £40 on or after 13th June 2003.

We will apply for the Decree Absolute on your behalf which will mean sending out an Application Form and an issue fee of £40.00

The Decree Absolute, once pronounced by the Judge, will be sent to us approximately 10-14 working days after filing of the Application. We will then send you the original Decree Absolute in the post.

Once you have received your Decree Absolute keep it in a safe place as you will need to present it if, you should wish to marry again or for pension purposes. If you do lose your certificate you can request another copy from the County Court upon payment of the prescribed fee.

You should also note that a divorce affects inheritance under a will. If you have left your ex spouse a gift that will no longer be effective and you should make a new will as all previous wills are revoked upon divorce.