BASIC OVERVIEW
This page deals with Undefended "Special Procedure" Divorces. Over 95% of divorces are dealt with in this way. There are five separate stages as follows:ISSUE PROCEEDINGS
A Divorce Petition, Statement of Arrangements, and other documents are prepared and filed at court.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SERVICE
The court sends the papers to the other party (Respondent) who has to complete an Acknowledgement of Service form and return it to the court.DIRECTIONS FOR TRIAL
The Petitioner completes Directions for Trial form and an Affidavit in Support and files them at court.DECREE NISI
A judge will then consider the papers and if satisfied will pronounce a Decree Nisi.DECREE ABSOLUTE
This is the final divorce order, and can be applied for by the Petitioner six weeks and a day after the pronouncement of the Decree Nisi.DECREE NISI
The Judge will look at your petition and affidavit as well as the statement of arrangements for the children. Sometimes the consideration of the papers raises questions, which the Judge will need to have answered before allowing the divorce. If so you will be sent a note of what the Judge needs or you may even be asked to go to the court to discuss the matter with the Judge. This is nothing to be worried about. The Judge will see you in private and will explain the concern to you as well as telling you what you should do next.If the Judge is satisfied with the paperwork you will be sent two pieces of paper. One will be the District Judge’s Certificate confirming your entitlement to a divorce and telling you when the decree nisi is to be pronounced. The other will be a Certificate in respect of children stating either that there are no children to whom the court must have regard or that there are children but that no order is necessary. This will not prevent you from seeking to resolve any arguments about the children through court proceedings if any differences of that kind arise as the divorce is proceeding or afterwards.
The District Judge’s Certificate will also set out any other orders that the court will be making at the time when decree nisi is pronounced. These usually include any order in respect of costs (see below).
On the date specified in the Certificate the Judge will pronounce your decree nisi in a public court session. No details will be given. A list of all the divorces being dealt with that day will be read out and the Judge will confirm that Decree nisi is pronounced in each of them. There is rarely any need to attend for this hearing. Very little happens and the procedure is very quick. If there is a dispute on any of the other orders, which the Judge has been asked to make, you will have the chance to go to court on the day when the decree nisi is pronounced and the judge will decide the issue at that hearing.
COSTS
The most usual argument at this stage is the Respondent’s refusal to accept a costs order. As in any court case you will incur expenses such as court fees, travel expenses if you need to go to court and perhaps loss of wages or time at work. The court may order that you can recover these. If you are seeking costs you will be asked to send the court and the other side a note of what you are hoping to recover. At the very least you should seek to recover the court fees that you have to pay or a part of them.The claim for costs originally is made in the petition so it is worth giving it some thought at that stage. If you are able to agree the terms of the divorce you may wish to agree, for example that your petition will include a request for the Respondent to pay half the costs of the petition. If there is no agreement you may wish to use the costs claim as a negotiating lever by, for example, making a claim for costs limited to one half of the costs unless the matter becomes defended.
Any change in your costs requirements can be dealt with in the affidavit which you swear in support of the petition and if the point has been agreed by then (as it often is) you can tell the court what costs order you want in the affidavit.
DECREE NISI and ABSOLUTE
It is important to understand the difference between the two types of decree. Nisi is the Latin for “unless” which is a very accurate way of looking at it. You are not divorced at the stage of the decree nisi but will be unless, within 6 weeks following it’s pronouncement, something happens which prevents the decree being made absolute such as reconciliation or the discovery that the divorce is invalid.You will not be divorced until you apply for and obtain your decree absolute. This is done by sending or taking the Application for Decree Nisi to be made Absolute to the court and paying a further fee or appropriate fees exemption form.
Upon grant of the decree absolute:
- You cease to be married
- Your will, if you have one will be treated as if any reference to your ex-husband or ex-wife is not there
- Any gift to you in your ex’s Will will be treated as removed
- If either of you dies the other will no longer be the widow or widower of the other and will not be entitled to any of the benefits under any life insurance or pension
- You can remarry
