MIAM (or Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) is an individual pre-mediation session with one of our mediators, in which the disputants can discuss in more detail the issues that need to be resolved and decide if mediation is the right way forward. If mediation isn’t right, the mediator can help you explore other ways to [...]
There are several websites that can help you with the process. It may be worth entering the “divorce process“ in the search engine of your computer. However, some of these sites do charge even just for the forms. It is possible to obtain the forms from the court office for free, and someone in the [...]
If you seek to dissolve a civil partnership, the process is the same as for divorce, but there are a few differences. First, an application, not a petition, starts the proceedings. Second, there is the conditional and final order as opposed to the decree nisi and decree absolute. Third, the ground is the same – [...]
There are other options. You may come across a decree of judicial separation. This can be obtained on the proof of the same five facts as divorce, but the decree of judicial separation does not end the marriage – it just states that you can live separate and apart from each other. It is sometimes [...]
The financial matters tie in with the divorce. If you want your proposals to be incorporated in a consent order for the court the divorce must have reached the decree nisi stage. The court only has jurisdiction to make financial orders on or after decree nisi and they are usually brought into effect on decree [...]
The petition is sent to the court with a form setting out the arrangements for the children. Sometimes this form is agreed upon between you before proceedings are issued. The arrangements are not binding to you and, if there is any dispute between you, not resolved in mediation, it is open to either of you [...]
The person who issues the proceedings (the petitioner) will have control of the process. The other person (the respondent) has a limited role to play. It does not usually matter who issues the proceedings and it may be possible for you to agree between yourselves how you will share the court costs.
There is only one ground for the dissolution of the marriage, i.e. that the marriage has broken down irretrievably and to show that, you must prove one of five facts. If satisfied with the facts, the court will grant in the first instance a Decree Nisi, which cannot be made absolute for six weeks and [...]
A petition can be presented to the Principal Registry of the Family Division or to any divorce county court. You must have been married for more than 12 months.
It depends to a large extent on the court issuing the proceedings. For an undefended divorce, the time from the issue of the petition until the Decree Absolute (the final decree) is usually between 4 ½ ‐ 6 months. It is likely to take longer than this if the financial aspects need to be resolved [...]