Divorce Proceedings

Divorce is a legal process carried out in court

The only ground for divorce is that your marriage has broken down irretrievably.

A new divorce procedure which removes the need to assign blame when commencing divorce proceedings came into force for divorce applications made from 6 April 2022:

The divorce application can be made solely by one party, or jointly by agreement.
The application will need to be acknowledged by the other party in the case of a sole application, or acknowledged by both parties in the case of a joint application.
The applicant(s) must confirm to the court that they want to proceed with the application and the first stage in the process is a conditional order (formerly decree nisi).
Once the court has made the conditional order, there will be a further six weeks until the final divorce order can be applied for.
It is the final order (formerly decree absolute) that formally ends the marriage.

When it comes to divorce proceedings there are 4 key things to bear in mind:

You cannot make an application for divorce unless you have been married for more than a year.
The length of the divorce process will vary from case to case, but there is a minimum time of 26 weeks for the whole divorce process, although this may be longer if there are other arrangements to be finalised first.
It is possible to dispute the divorce proceedings, but the grounds are limited to issues about the court’s jurisdiction to hear the case or about the validity or subsistence of the marriage. When this happens, a different procedure applies.
If the divorce is not disputed, you will not have to attend court.

Divorce procedure prior to 6^th April 2022

Details in respect of the previous divorce procedure can be found here.

Our specialist lawyers in our family team can provide you with more information in relation to this and how it may affect your circumstances.

If you would like to arrange a call or a meeting to discuss a potential divorce in total confidence please email us at family@collinshoy.com or call us on 020 8866 1820.