Divorce Guide

a Divorce petition

A divorce petition is a legal document or an application given as the first document in the court of law which is filed by the applicant. To file a petition the couple has to be married for at least a year and with that document you must give any of the five categorical reasons you think is the cause of the divorce. This is accompanied by an affidavit which should be given, listing all your assets, personal belongings, income, insurances, pension plans etc, and along with the certificate of marriage.

• The main step, being from the court’s side, that when it receives a divorce application, they will consider your reasons for wanting a divorce and only after satisfying the court, it shall start the process. The reason should be logical and that which can be proved is something a judge seeks.
• The applicant then becomes the petitioner and the partner you are divorcing becomes the respondent. The court then sends this to the respondent seeking an answer within seven days. If the partner fails to reply, the petitioner is called and asked for further detail, and next time, the petition is served in person.
• Now, the divorce procedure starts, determining whether or not the partners agree to the divorce. If they do not agree the court shall employ the services of a solicitor and then the court looks after all the things involved in marriage being children, family house, belongings, assets etc.
• The stage of decree nisi: in this, the judge after looking at the all the documents and the agreements including, financial, any liabilities, employment and is satisfied with it, issues a decree nisi, which is a half way to the divorce judgment, but this stage it can be reviewed further so the couple is still legally married.
• Final judgment : This is issued after 6 weeks of the decree nisi, the judge after finalizing the arrangements for the children, the maintenance given to the other spouse, the equal or shared division of property and asset is ordered and as the financial dispute is solved, the decree absolute is granted. Now the two are no longer a couple and can re-marry to the person they want to.

  If there were previous negotiations between both the parties and they settled most of it on their own, then this process may be finished early with less expense on solicitor visits and consultations.

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