Divorce and Dissolution of Civil Partnerships

A divorce or dissolution of civil partnership ends your marriage or civil partnership. References to divorce include the dissolution of civil partnerships as the law and procedure are the same for each.

You need to apply to the Family Court to get divorced. The majority of divorces are now dealt with via an online portal. You simply need to satisfy the Court that your marriage has irretrievably broken down by making a statement to that effect. All divorces are now no-fault divorces so you do not need to blame the other person for their behaviour.

You can start a divorce in your sole name or jointly with your spouse or civil partner. If you start the divorce in your sole name, your spouse will be sent a copy of your application which they will need to respond to. If it is a joint divorce application, both of you sign the application and there is no need for either of you to respond to the divorce.

The applicant or applicants for a divorce have to wait at least 20 weeks from the date their application was issued by the Court, before they can apply for the next stage in the divorce, known as the Conditional Order (this used to be called the decree nisi). The Conditional Order means that a judge has considered your application and is satisfied that you can have a divorce.

You must then wait at least six weeks and one day from the date of the Conditional Order before you can apply for the third and final stage – the Final Order (this used to be called the decree absolute) and is the Order that formally ends the marriage.

The divorce can be completed within as little as seven to eight months, but it is more likely to take around 12 months because of the time it takes for the Court to process the application.

Careful consideration needs to be given to the timing of the acknowledgement of the divorce (if it is a sole application) and applying for the Final Order if the financial settlement still needs to be concluded. It is essential that you seek legal advice on these matters. Ellisons offer a fixed fee for the divorce, of £1850 (inclusive of VAT and the initial court fee) if you are the applicant, and £500 (inclusive of VAT) if you are the respondent.

We offer a free exploratory call, so that we can discuss your needs and look to match your specific circumstances with the right specialist family lawyer in our team.