Legal Aid is no longer available to assist parties to obtain a divorce and many people are left to deal with this on their own. 

Sadly, therefore not only do you have to deal with the effects of the breakdown of your marriage which is very stressful in itself, you also have to manage the legal process when applying for a divorce.

You can get a divorce in England or Wales if you've been married at least a year and your relationship has permanently broken down.

You must have a marriage that's legally recognised in the UK - this includes same-sex marriage. You must usually also have a permanent home in England or Wales.

If your permanent home isn't in England or Wales, you will need to check if the Court has jurisdiction to deal with your divorce.

You must have a valid ground for a divorce and show there is a good reason for ending your marriage. When you apply for a divorce you'll need to prove that your marriage has broken down and give one of the following 5 reasons.

The basics you must include are your:

• Full name and address
• Husband or wife's full name and address
• Marriage certificate - the original certificate or a copy obtained from a register office
• You can include the names and dates of birth of any children (no matter how old they are), but you don't have to.
• If your husband or wife name the person you were unfaithful with, that person will also get copies of the divorce petition.

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Send your Petition to your local Family Court

Once you have filled in the forms:

• You will need to send 2 copies of the divorce petition form to the court (3 if you have named the person your husband or wife had an affair with)
• Make sure that you keep a spare copy for yourself.

When sending the Divorce Petition to the Court remember to send a covering letter providing details of your phone number and requesting they phone you to take the fee over the phone. DO NOT SEND THE COURT DETAILS OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT ETC

The divorce centre will call you to take your payment. You can also send a cheque to the Court by post when you forward the Petition to the Court.

If you receive a Divorce Petition you will also be served with a Notice of Proceedings form and an Acknowledgment of Service form. Retain the notice of proceedings form as it has details of the case number on it that you will required for further reference. You will need complete and return the Acknowledgment of Service form.

Remember to keep your own copy of the forms.

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If it is a straight forward divorce and there are no children involved and matters such as the division of property is agreed amicably between your husband/wife and yourself or your husband/wife does not respond with an acknowledgement within 21 days you can Apply for a decree nisi.

Applying for a Decree Nisi

A decree nisi is a document that says that the court doesn't see any reason why you can't divorce.

If your husband or wife doesn't agree to the divorce, you can still apply for a decree nisi. However, you'll have to go to a court hearing to discuss the case, and a judge will then decide whether to grant you a decree nisi.

Fill in application form

For further details of how to get a decree nisi please go to:
I want to get a divorce

You can then fill in the application form for a decree nisi, a copy of which you can find at:
Application for a decree nisi

If your husband or wife decide they are going to defend the claim you will need to complete section B of the form confirming that you want a case management hear and you will need to submit the form in triplicate to the Court with a fee made payable to HMCTS in the sum of £50.00.

You will also need to complete a statement confirming what you said in your divorce petition was true.
There are 5 statement forms and you will need to use the one that corresponds with the initial ground you gave when applying for your divorce e.g.

• Adultery statement

• Unreasonable behaviour statement

• Desertion statement

• 2 years' separation statement

• 5 years' separation statement

DON'T FORGET TO attach a copy of your husband or wife's response to the divorce petition, when submitting your application for the decree nisi.

Getting a decree nisi

If the judge agrees that you have provided sufficient reason for the decree nisi to be granted, the court will send you and your husband or wife a certificate. This will tell you the time and date you'll be granted a decree nisi.

After the decree nisi has been granted, you will have to wait 6 weeks before you can apply for a 'decree absolute' to end the marriage.

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It is of course a great deal cheaper and far less stressful if you can come to a fair an amicable agreement in respect of finances if your marriage unfortunately ends in divorce so please remember the following:

You and your ex-wife or husband can choose how to work out money and property issues if you divorce or end a civil partnership.

You can usually avoid going to court hearings if you agree how to split your money and property. At Affordable Law for You we can help you to prepare and lodge a Consent Order at the Court which will be legally binding and in the event that either you or your ex husband or wife break that Order you will be able to revert back to the Courts to obtain their assistance in ensuring that the Order is complied with.

Making your agreement legally binding

We can help you draft a 'consent order' and ask a court to approve it - this makes it legally binding.

A consent order is a legal document that confirms your agreement. It explains how you're going to divide up assets like:

• Money

• Property

• Savings

• Investments

It can also include arrangements for maintenance payments, including child maintenance.

Deadlines for making a consent order

You can ask the court to approve your consent order if both of the following apply:

• You have started the paperwork to divorce or end your civil partnership

• You haven't yet applied for the final legal document to end the relationship The final legal document is the decree absolute if your are divorcing and a final order if you are ending a civil partnership

Asking the court for approval

You will both need to fill in a notice of an application for a financial order to obtain a copy of this form please go to "Notice of [intention to proceed with] an application for a financial order" and a statement of information form which you can locate at "Statement of information for a consent order in relation to a financial remedy"

You will need to send these forms with your draft consent order to the Court dealing with your divorce or civil partnership. Keep your own copies. There will be a Court fee and this is £50.00. Don't forget, your cheque should be made payable to HMCTS.

There isn't usually a court hearing. A judge will consider your application and if he thinks it is fair he will grant the order. You will received a sealed copy in the post.
DO NOT LOSE THIS DOCUMENT

If a Judge does not think the consent order is fair he/she can:

• Change your consent order

• Make a new court order to tell you how to divide your money and property

Remember you can agree on child maintenance at this point or at a separate time.
IT REALLY IS MORE SENSIBLE TO TRY TO DEAL WITH ALL FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS AT ONE TIME

IF YOU CAN NOT AGREE REGARDING THE FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS

If you can't reach an agreement You can ask a court to make a 'financial order' but before doing this YOU MUST ATTEND A MEETING ABOUT MEDIATION (THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS TO THIS I.E. IF YOU HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN YOUR MARRIAGE).

To find a local mediator go to "Find your local mediator"

Remember there is a deadlines for applying for a financial order

You can ask the court to make a financial order if both of the following apply:

• You have started the paperwork to divorce or end your civil partnership

• You haven't yet applied for the final legal document to end the relationship

How to apply for a financial order

You will need to complete an application for a financial order which you can find at "Application for a financial order" to get things like:

• A lump sum payment

• Ownership of a property

• Regular maintenance payments to help with children or living expenses

• A share of your partner's pension payments

You will need to send 2 copies of the form to the Court dealing with your divorce or end your civil partnership with a Court fee of £255.00. Don't forget to keep a copy of the application for yourself.

You will both be sent a form E to complete and return to the Court. Form E is Financial Statement which you have to complete providing full details of your financial position. Form E can be found at "Application for a financial order"

This is a very important document and provides you with a full opportunity to set out not only your assets but your liabilities. We at Affordable Law for You can assist you in drafting a fuller response beyond what has been asked for so that the court and your spouse understand such things as the following e.g:

a. Why overtime has stopped or been curtailed
b. Why certain transfers have been made from or to your account
c. The possibility of redundancy or threats to losing your job
d. Detailed or expert evidence of why properties might need to reflect development opportunities or potential rental or why certain factors may depress the market price
e. The Pension CETV value may not be a true reflection of Value and we can put questions to your spouse's pension providers to clarify the true position

If you would like us to assist you in completing your Form E you will need to forward the following information to us at affordablelawforyou@gmail.com:

1. 12 months bank statements

2. Details of properties owned by you and your husband/wife

3. Details of all assets to include shares, paintings cars

4. Your pension details

5. Details of property owned abroad

6. Details of all liabilities you have i.e. amounts on credit card/debit card's owed, monies owed to any party etc

Once we receive the documentation from you, we will assess how long it will take us to read through all the documentation and discuss the same with you. We will then will forward an e-mail to you confirming the initial time and cost that will be involved in reviewing this documentation and holding a telephone conversation with you to discuss any issues. If you wish to proceed we will arrange a mutually convenient telephone appointment to be conducted after payment of our fee.

You will have to attend a number of court hearings before the financial arrangements of your divorce are settled and the time involved could be between 6 to 18 months before the matter is finalised.

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