Divorce Procedure in England and Wales

The procedure generally takes at least 6 to 8 months and involves the following steps: 

1. Eligibility check: You must have been married for at least one year before you can apply for a divorce. Your marriage must be legally recognised in the UK, even if it took place overseas, and your relationship must have irretrievably broken down; 
2. Submit an Application: You can apply online or, in certain exceptional circumstances, by post, either as a sole applicant or jointly with your spouse. The application requires your marriage certificate and a court fee (currently £628). 
3. Acknowledgement of Service: If you apply as a sole applicant, the court will send the application to your spouse, who has 14 days to respond. Unless there is a fundamental issue that prevents the English court dealing with the matter, the recipient spouse will have no ability to oppose the divorce. 
4. The Reflection Period: There is a mandatory 20-week waiting period after the divorce application is issued before you can proceed further. 
5. Apply for a Conditional Order: After the 20-week period, you can apply for a Conditional Order (formerly Decree Nisi), which confirms that the court sees no reason why you cannot divorce. 
6. Apply for a Final Order: Six weeks and one day after the Conditional Order is granted, you can apply for a Final Order (formerly Decree Absolute). This legally ends the marriage. 

It is of the greatest importance to highly recommended to resolve financial arrangements and child arrangements at the same time as the divorce alongside this process, often preferably before the Final Order is made. If you don’t resolve financial matters your financial arrangements and  via obtain a Financial a Consent Order dividing the marital assets or, in the absence of agreement, a decision of the court, then your spouse may have a claim on your finances at any time in the future financial assets for many years to come. These matters can be complicated and are, of course, critical to your future financial position. For these reasons it is very important that you seek independent legal advice.  It is often at the point that you are looking to resolve your finances that you should consider seeking legal advice. Our team at Heald Solicitors are experts in this field. 

Finally, you should also consider making a Will when contemplating divorce or going through the process. We have both a family law department and a private client department that can advise and represent you in family law and Will related matters.