Yes, please see the current court issue fee here.

It is possible that you may be entitled to a reduction in the court issue fee, or even a full remission. Guidance can be found on the Government’s website in relation to fee remissions/reductions.

Once received, the Court will review the divorce petition, now known as a divorce application, to ensure that it has been completed correctly. If it is in order, the Court will send a copy of the divorce application to your spouse together with a document known as an Acknowledgement of Service for them to complete and return. You will not be able to progress your divorce proceedings until the Court has received the completed Acknowledgement of Service or it has been confirmed that your spouse is aware of the proceedings. If you need any assistance progressing your divorce proceedings, do not hesitate to contact our Family Law team.

If your spouse fails to return the Acknowledgement of Service to the Court, do not worry, there are other ways in which you can prove to the Court that your spouse has received the divorce application.

For example, it is common practice to instruct a Process Server to personally serve the divorce papers upon your spouse and provide you with evidence of service which you can send to the Court.

Other alternatives are seeking to dispense with the need for service of the proceedings or providing evidence to the Court that your spouse is aware of the proceedings.

If you are facing difficulty with proving to the Court that your spouse is aware of the proceedings, or has been served with the Court papers, contact our Family Law team who will be happy to assist you.

Divorce proceedings may take around 6-8 months, but sometimes proceedings can be delayed.

Factors such as the Court’s case workload, determining the financial aspects of your divorce or any difficulty proving that your spouse has been provided with the divorce papers can impact this timeline.

There may also be reasons why you should not finalise your divorce proceedings, often for financial reasons including pension provision. For further advice contact our Family Law team.

If there are financial issues that need to be resolved, you should seek legal advice from the outset. Each party has a duty of full and frank financial disclosure and there are a variety of ways to resolve financial matters, such as

• Direct communication between you and your spouse
• Negotiations between solicitors
• Mediation
• Collaborative law
• Arbitration
• The Court process.

The Decree Nisi was the first order made by the Court within divorce proceedings which confirmed that the petitioner was entitled to a divorce. It did not end the marriage.

The Decree Absolute was the second and final order made within divorce proceedings. It was the Decree Absolute that ended the marriage. Since 6 April 2022, the term Decree Nisi has been replaced with the term “Conditional Order” and Decree Absolute with the term “Final Order”.

There are financial implications to applying to finalise a divorce or civil partnership and you may wish to obtain legal advice as to whether such an application should be made if you have not yet reached a financial agreement with your spouse. Please contact our family law team if you require any further information.

The applicant could apply for the Decree Nisi to be made Absolute six weeks and one day after the date upon which the Decree Nisi was pronounced. This six week period remains with the new procedure.

Under the old law the respondent (the spouse who did not issue divorce proceedings) could also apply for the Decree Nisi to be made Absolute but was unable to do so until a further three months had passed after that initial six week period.

Now under the new divorce law, an application for a Final Order can also be submitted to the court six weeks after a Conditional Order has been made, either by a joint application or by the sole applicant giving notice to their spouse that they intend to do so. If an application for a divorce was originally made by a sole applicant and then they fail to apply to finalise the divorce, the other spouse may make the application but has to wait a further three months.

Court proceedings in respect of matrimonial finances are known as financial remedy proceedings. You can issue these proceedings by completing and sending a document known as a Form A to the Court.

You will not be able to issue financial remedy proceedings if you are not a party to divorce proceedings.

Also, it is usually a requirement that any individual seeking to issue financial remedy proceedings attend an initial meeting with a mediator, known as a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (a “MIAM”) prior to attempting to issue legal proceedings, however, in some cases an exemption can be applied for.

Do contact us directly if you wish to discuss mediation or initiating financial remedy proceedings.

Yes. If you do not resolve financial matters then even after a divorce has ended with the pronouncement of Decree Absolute or Final Order, a divorced spouse may still be able to make a financial claim against their ex-spouse.

To prevent any future financial claims being made, you should seek advice to ensure there is a court order in place to dismiss those potential future claims. For further advice contact our Family Law team.

Yes. If there are financial issues that need to be resolved, you should seek legal advice from the outset. Each party has a duty of full and frank financial disclosure and there are a variety of ways to resolve financial matters, such as:

• Direct communication between you and your civil partner
• Negotiations between solicitors
• Mediation
• Collaborative law
• Arbitration
• The Court process.

Yes. If you do not resolve financial matters then even after a civil partnership has ended, financial claims can potentially still be made.

To prevent any future financial claims being made, you should seek advice to ensure there is a court order in place to dismiss those potential future claims. For further advice contact our Family Law team.

Yes, as well as having the same rights as a married couple with regard to tax and inheritance during the civil partnership, civil partners also have the ability to make financial claims in the same way as divorcing couples.