Divorce and Dissolution: Simplified

Divorce is one of the most difficult situations that a person may face in life, with people often comparing the grief and stress to that which you may experience during bereavement. If you are considering a divorce or dissolution, it is likely that you have begun to look into this and have encountered a wealth of information, which can be extremely overwhelming. At Manak Solicitors, our knowledgeable and empathetic family law expert solicitors can help you to understand what you can expect from your divorce/dissolution and to simplify what is likely to be a very complex situation. 

Making the application 

You may be familiar with the previous divorce process, which required the person who applied for the divorce to provide reasoning for initiating their application. The reasons included two or five years’ separation, adultery, behaviour, and desertion. This often led to divorces being unnecessarily acrimonious from the outset. 

Since April 2022, divorce has been on a ‘no fault’ basis. This means that you do not need to blame your spouse or give any reason to the court for your divorce other than that your marriage has broken down irretrievably. It is not possible to contest a divorce save for on very limited grounds, including:

1. Jurisdiction – for example, if you are not domiciled or habitually resident in England and Wales.
2. Your marriage/civil partnership has already legally ended, such as if you have already had divorce proceedings in another jurisdiction. 
3. Your marriage/civil partnership was never valid. 

The divorce application is made online. Once your solicitor has filed your application, the court will issue the application and will take a fee of £612. The court or your solicitor will then serve the documents on your spouse, who has to acknowledge that they have received it. 

The stages of divorce

A divorce takes a minimum of six months, and can be broken down into the following stages:

1. Your solicitor prepares your divorce application and sends this to you to check. Once you have approved the draft application, they will submit it.
2. The court issues your application, and it is then sent to your spouse, who has to acknowledge that they have received it. 
3. A 20-week reflection period then begins, during which you and your spouse will begin to exchange financial information and work towards negotiating a settlement. During this time, divorcing couples usually address living arrangements for their children.
4. After the reflection period, you can apply for the conditional order. This is a ‘checkpoint’ where the court reviews your application and, if satisfied, confirms there is no reason why your divorce cannot proceed.
5. The conditional order is granted within a few weeks. At this stage, if a financial settlement has been reached, your solicitor can file a financial remedy order reflecting this with the court.
6. Six weeks after your conditional order is granted, you will be able to apply for your final order, which terminates your marriage. However, we usually advise clients to wait until their financial remedy order has been approved and sealed by the court prior to applying for the final order. Once the final order is granted, your marriage will have legally ended.

Speak to an expert

If you are considering a divorce and wish to speak to one of our expert family solicitors in more detail, book a free no-obligation call back here, and we can point you in the right direction.