Michelmores Family Law Service

Divorce Proceedings

Divorce Proceedings: How to I start Divorce proceedings?

Make an appointment to come and see one of our specialist Family Law Solicitors to start divorce procedings. We will offer you a free 30 minute appointment and will quickly assess whether you are eligible for any form of Public Funding.

We will then prepare a divorce petition for you together with a Statement of Arrangements for your Children if appropriate. Once you are happy with your divorce papers, we will forward them to the court on your behalf. We will try, wherever possible to agree the contents of these documents with your spouse (who is named the Respondent) before lodging them with the court. For the purposes of divorce, if you start the divorce proceedings you are called the Petitioner.

The Divorce Procedure

Once issued by the Court, the divorce papers will then be sent to your spouse together with a form for completion by them called an Acknowledgment of Service. If they fail to do this, or contest the divorce in any way we will give you specialist advice on the next possible steps in your case and the options available to you.

When the Acknowledgement of Service is filed with the Court, we will prepare the next set of documents to progress your divorce to apply for your Decree Nisi. Once you are happy with these documents we will send them to the court for you.

The court will then review your papers and providing the Judge is satisfied with your grounds he or she will certify that you are entitled to a divorce and you will be given a date for your Decree Nisi.

Six weeks and one day from your Decree Nisi, the Petitioner can apply for the Decree Absolute - this is the final stage of the divorce, which, when granted ends your marriage. Ending a marriage does not however end the financial implications on both of you, and you should seek specialist legal advice from us before applying for your Decree Absolute.