Applying for a Divorce – the “no fault”divorce process effective from 6th April 2022.
If you are applying for a divorce, you will now be known as the “Applicant” throughout the divorce process and your spouse will be known as the “Respondent”. The Applicant submits an Application for divorce to the court. The application should be made online. Following issue of the proceedings, the court will send a copy of the divorce papers to the Respondent.
Under the old divorce law, historically, only one person would apply for the divorce. The new process allows a separating couple to make a joint application for a divorce. One person can still apply for the divorce as a sole applicant but there is now the ability for the other party to be a joint applicant in the divorce process. This is going to be of assistance to those couples who are separating amicably and want to ensure the process is as fair and as straightforward as possible.
Where a sole application for divorce has been made, at the time the court sends a copy of the divorce papers to the Respondent, they will inform the Respondent that they should complete the Acknowledgment of Service online and the letter sent to them by the court will explain how they do this. The Acknowledgment of service form should be completed by the Respondent online to confirm that they have received the divorce papers and they should do this within 7 days of receipt of the divorce application.
In some divorce cases, the Respondent may refuse or fail to complete the Acknowledgment of Service form and steps may have to be taken to serve them personally with a copy of the divorce papers, so that the court can be satisfied that they are aware of the application for divorce. Before the new law came into effect this year, a Respondent in divorce proceedings could defend the application for divorce (commonly referred to as contesting the application for divorce). This was often viewed as a way for the Respondent to cause further difficulties for the ex-spouse, certainly if the split was acrimonious. However, the ability for the Respondent to contest an application for divorce has been removed by the new divorce law and this will hopefully go some way to preventing further unnecessary hostility between the parties.
Take note that some of the old terms used in the divorce process have been replaced with more jargon- free terms to include “Decree Nisi” renamed “Conditional Order” and “Decree Absolute” renamed “Final Order”.
An application for divorce can be made online. If you choose not to appoint a Solicitor, you can make the application yourself via the following link Apply for a divorce – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
How Long Does it Take to Get Divorced?
The current online divorce process is proving to be very efficient and far more effective than the previous paper application process. The new divorce process is longer in duration compared to the former divorce process, ensuring that the Conditional Order is not pronounced until at least 20 weeks have passed from the date of the application for the divorce. Once the Conditional Order has been pronounced, there is a 6 week and 1 day wait before the Applicant (or Applicants in a joint application) can apply for the Final Order to bring the divorce proceedings to an end.
If there are financial issues arising from the separation, the divorce process from start to finish may be much longer and the application for the “Final Order” (the final step in the divorce process) may have to be delayed until the financial matters have been resolved. You should note that pronouncement of the Final Order does NOT terminate financial claims so if you are looking to resolve the financial issues, the door is not closed on your financial claims just because the Final Order may have already been pronounced.
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