Obtaining a divorce

Contents
1. Divorce 2. Legal grounds for a divorce (England & Wales and Northern Ireland) 3. The three main stages of divorce (England & Wales only) 3.1. Divorce petition 3.2. Application for directions for trial 3.3. Decree nisi to absolute

Below you will find a summary of the divorce procedure. Where there are differences, you can find information on Scotland or Northern Ireland on the appropriate links in the left-hand side of the page or linked to from the article itself.

The court will only grant you a divorce if a judge agrees that your marriage is at an end. The legal term for this is ‘irretrievably broken down’.

In order to show that your marriage has ‘irretrievably broken down’, you must show one of the following:

• Adultery by your husband or wife
• Unreasonable behaviour by your husband or wife
• Desertion for a period of at least two years
• Two years' separation, if you both agree to the divorce (i.e. with consent)
• Five years' separation, if there is no agreement to the divorce

For more information on the grounds of divorce in England and Wales, see: ‘Grounds for divorce’. For Northern Ireland, see the section on Grounds for divorce in Northern Ireland.

The divorce process is complicated and the information that may be requested by the court may vary in any one particular case depending on the particular complexities in the couple’s affairs. However, the following summary provides the general procedure that will be applied by the courts in the majority of divorce cases:

• To start your divorce, you must complete a copy of the ‘divorce petition’ and send it to the court. The divorce petition essentially asks the court for a divorce from your spouse.
• If you have children under 16 or over 16 and under 18 who are in full time education or training for a trade, profession or vocation, you will also need to complete a copy of the ‘statement of arrangements for children’.

• The court will send your divorce papers to your husband/wife and will ask him/her to acknowledge that they have received them and to confirm whether they agree or disagree with their contents. This is formally referred to as ‘acknowledgement of service’, and once this has been done, you may apply for directions for trial.
• You must complete the document ‘Application for directions for trial’ and one of the following documents depending on the ground of your divorce:

a) Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of adultery

b) Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour

c) Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of 2 years’ separation

d) Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of 5 years’ separation

e) Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of desertion

The court will then consider all of the relevant information and decide whether you can have a divorce. If so, the court will take the first step in your divorce called pronouncing decree nisi.

The decree nisi to decree absolute is the most important part of the divorce process and is the final stage of the divorce called the decree absolute, which is the official divorce. In order to make an application for a decree absolute, you must complete the document ‘Decree nisi to decree absolute’ and send it to the court six weeks and one day after the date that your decree nisi was pronounced.

For more information on the divorce procedure in England and Wales, see: Divorce procedure continued