Grounds for Divorce? 

If you have, sadly, decided that your marriage is well and truly over and you have explored all the avenues of Relate or Mediation to see whether the situation can be rescued and rebuilt then you may decide to go for a Divorce. You need to establish two things:-

• That the marriage has irretrievably broken down
• One of five grounds

The Five Grounds are:

Adultery  - (Usually we need the respondent to admit adultery has taken place) These days, it is extremely unlikely that one would name a co-respondent.

Unreasonable Behaviour - Although you may feel your partner has behaved atrociously it is not necessary to make life complicated and possibly further alienate your partner by giving too much detail. Three or four sentences of the essential behaviour that makes it unreasonable that you should have to continue to live with that person are adequate.

Two Years Seperation with Consent  - You have to have lived apart for the 2 years proceeding the date of the presentation of the Petition although short periods of cohabitation can be disregarded as long as the total amount of separation has been two years.

Desertion - for two years or more

Five Years Seperation where the Respondent does not consent - The procedure in each case is exactly the same. The time involved is exactly the same and the costs are more or less the same. The notion of a “quickie Divorce” after having been separated for two years a misconception, it simply means you do not have to make any allegations of Adultery or Unreasonable Behaviour.

As long as one of the grounds can be establish either party can present the Petition. In the vast majority of cases it has no impact on either the financial settlement or the arrangements for the children, who is Petitioner and who is Respondent nor on what grounds the Divorce is being obtained.

The Petitioner will present the Petition in a standard form together with the original marriage certificate, which is not returned, and a cheque for the Court fee to the local County Court. The papers will then be served by post on the Respondent. The Respondent has one form to return on which he/she can indicate whether they intend to defend the Divorce (which is quite a complex and very expensive process), confirming that the parties have been separated for two years or more, or whether they admit the Adultery, and confirming they have received the paperwork.

That is all the evidence the Petitioner needs in order to apply for the Decree Nisi. It is not necessary to produce any other evidence of Adultery than the admission by the Respondent on the Acknowledgement of Service and it is not necessary to prove the unreasonable behaviour as long as the Petition is not defended by the Respondent. The Respondent may not accept the allegations of unreasonable behaviour but as long as no defence is filed the Petition will proceed.

Providing that everyone cooperates and that arrangements for the children and finances have been resolved a Decree Absolute can be obtained within 3 months. No one attends Court, and the whole process is dealt with on a series of papers being lodged with the Court.

The matter of arrangements for the children form a separate document that is lodged at the Court with the Petition. As long as there is a measure of agreement between the parents and the Judge is satisfied on looking at the paperwork that the arrangements for the children are satisfactory then a declaration will be given, at the time of the Decree Nisi and no Order for Residence or Contact of the children will be made. The parents will be entrusted to pursue their plans for the future with their children’s best interests in mind.

Financial negotiations run parallel to but entirely independently of the Divorce procedure itself. They can be commenced and concluded before the presentation of the Petition or may continue long after the Decree Nisi of Divorce has been granted. In those circumstances one would normally defer applying for the Decree Absolute until finances have been resolved. Hopefully, with the assistance of solicitors, Mediation or Collaboration, agreement will be reached on finances and a Consent Order can be slotted into the Divorce proceedings between the Decree Nisi and the Decree Absolute without the necessity of either party attending Court. In order to avoid that, however, each party must have received independent legal advice.

If these or any other issues relating to family breakdown are problems for you please contact us on 01423 858582 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it