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When filing for a divorce, the party that submits the required documents must pay the courts a fee of £550 – a significant fee, particularly when you consider that all that it covers are administrative costs and that the applicant will not receive any support from court staff in return. Fortunately, if you’re disabled, you may not need to pay this fee at all.

If you receive any of these benefits, you won’t need to pay court fees

If you’re disabled and want to file for a divorce, the easiest way to avoid the court fees is to apply for a remission on the basis that you receive certain state benefits. Anyone who receives any of the following benefits is exempt from all court fees:

• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Income Support
• Universal Credit
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)

If you receive any of the benefits listed above and have less than £3,000 in savings (this increases to £16,000 if you’re 61 or older), you will not need to pay any money to the courts when filing for a divorce.

How to avoid court fees for divorce if you receive other benefits

If you don’t receive any of the benefits listed above, you can still be exempt from the court fees if you have a low income and, if you are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance or a Personal Independence Payment it’s unlikely you’ll need to pay any fees to the court.

Anyone that files for a divorce and whose monthly income is less than £1,085 before tax is exempt from court fees and neither Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments need to be included when you calculate your monthly income. As a result, the vast majority of people who rely on disability benefits as their main form of income will be exempt from paying court fees. 

Just so you know, the amount you can earn before tax and still receive a full remission increases to £1,245 if you live with your partner, though you’ll need to include their income when calculating your monthly earnings. You can also add £245 to this figure for each dependent child that lives with you.

How to reduce the court for divorce if you have a low income

Even if your monthly income is too large for a full remission, you can still have the court’s fee reduced provided it’s less than £5,085 or £5,245 if you live with your partner. Again, you can add an additional £245 to this figure for each child you have.

Once you’ve calculated your monthly income, you can work out what you’ll need to pay to the courts by deducting £1,085 (£1,245 if you live with your partner) plus £245 for each child that lives with you from it. You should then round this figure down to the nearest £10 and then divide this by two: this will be the fee you’ll need to pay the court.

If this article is unclear or you have any other questions about the court fee for divorce or anything else, get in touch with one of our advisers today.

If you want to run a successful business in 2018, chances are you’ll be looking to embrace technology. Technological advances have brought us from computers that take an entire room to store to tiny handheld devices within 80 years, and its revolutionised the way we do business. You probably take for granted your ability to store data about your clients, your staff and all of your company finances – you might even have your own server dedicated solely to your office and maintaining all of your critical files somewhere safe and close by. Though technology is regularly doing incredible things for us, it’s also still shockingly easy for our devices to crash and erase years of work. Ranging from natural disasters like fires and floods to human error with an accidental file deletion, your server is not infallible and recovering your data after it has stopped working can be very costly.

The amount of tiny interconnected pieces of machinery that come together to store your terabytes of information is mind-boggling, and something as simple as a dropped computer tower could cause serious issues for your business. Hard drives can be plagued by an array of software and hardware issues from head crashes, where your read and write heads malfunction and render your sensitive data an unreadable mess, to water damage from a natural disaster like a flood or leak. The worst part is that no company can ever completely guarantee a full recovery of every important file that you were holding on to.

How to back up

So what can you do to guard against data recovery issues before they even happen? The best and most simple answer is to create and maintain a full back-up of your data – and it couldn’t be more simple. We recommend using more than one type of backup, because sometimes one can be wiped out along with the original copy and nothing could be more frustrating than that! There are many overly complicated guides and how-to’s online that recommend you use their specific brand of software, but the simplest ways can sometimes be the best. You should create a physical backup of your businesses important data by storing copies of your files on hard drives, tape drives or any kind of storage device connected to your network. You can make several of these and store one of them offsite so that the risk of something happening in your office and you losing absolutely everything is mitigated.

You should create a second, remote back up by utilising the cloud, which you probably already use to an extent for running some of your systems and software over the internet. Backing up to the cloud means you have another copy of your data secured offsite but this copy can be accessed remotely using just an internet connection. It effectively travels with you wherever you go and adds an extra layer of protection when used in conjunction with a physical copy.

The typical way to maintain a backup system is by creating your initial backups of all the data you want to keep safe, and then monitoring and updating that copy when things change. It’s up to you what data that is, or how regularly it’s updated, but at the very least you should duplicated the information that you need to keep your business running on a daily basis. We know that for some people, this guide may have come a little too late and they may have already lost valuable data – but moving forward you can avoid this pain by following the two simple backup strategies. Until then, give us a call and we can recover what you’ve lost

Family law group ‘Resolution’, which was formerly known as the Solicitors Family Law Association (SFLA), is an organisation of 6,500 family lawyers and other professionals who strive to take a constructive approach to family law. They put an emphasis on non-confrontational methods of mediation and campaign actively for improvements to the family justice system that would make things easier and less emotionally taxing for families going through difficult times. They are currently championing a campaign called ‘Good Divorce Week’ based around raising awareness in different methods parents can use to make their separation as easy as possible on their children. Conflict can have a huge impact on a child’s wellbeing, and Resolution have made it part of their mission statement to limit its effect. A judgement was published this week that highlighted the importance of the campaign.

VW v BH

The case, referred do as VW v BH, was described by Her Honour Judge Lynn Roberts as ‘extraordinary’. Official figures have quoted a contested divorce rate of only 20 trials a year, and this case was of these rare breeds. Going on for three days, the wife ‘VW’ filed for divorce against her husband ‘BH’ after he admitted cheating on her in their marriage for 22 years. He then made the extraordinary decision to contest the divorce in court, forcing their daughter into an emotionally brutal cross examination and causing a truly acrimonious split. The trail was initially slated to begin on September 5th but was adjourned because BH has apparently been attacked the night before – something HHJ Roberts admits she has of the truthfulness behind. She is quoted saying she was 'not satisfied that Mr H had been attacked as he said. I do not know'.

BH insisted that all of wife’s referenced witnesses attend the trial, and is said to have questioned them at length and in some questionable detail, Judge Roberts goes on to say ‘if I had not intervened, would have questioned each of them for very long periods of time... It was a difficult and painful experience, in my judgment, for each of Ms W's witnesses and for Ms W to observe. His cross-examination of his daughter, M, was particularly excruciating'. Apparently, BH cross examined his own daughter in an excruciating and unnecessary display where he is said to have asked her questions about sexually transmitted infections such as herpes.

The Judge’s ruling

Judge Roberts was scathing in her indictment of BH’s behaviour, referring to him as a ‘deeply dishonest man’ and admitting that she did not believe him in almost everything he had said: 'I do not believe him about any of the matters in issue in this case. His attitudes displayed in these proceedings are those which were common 40 years ago, not today. This whole awful case has been so that he can delude people into thinking his conduct was not as shameful as it indeed is'.

She added: 'Mr H's whole case has indeed been completely futile, a huge waste of money, a tragic destruction of family relationships, and all, in my opinion, to satisfy Mr H's own vanity and need to be in control and for the other reasons I have suggested earlier. All he had to do was to not contest the divorce, a divorce he wanted, as virtually everybody else in the country does, and this couple would have had their decree nisi last year, the various relationships would, in all likelihood, have been well on the way to healing by now and the money saved for the family.'

Eventually, VW was granted the requested Decree Nisi and BH was forced to pay her legal costs in both prosecuting her petition and the defence of his own. He was forced to pay the costs on an indemnity basis, rather than a standard basis, which means the costs don’t need to be proportionate and will always be much more favourable to the receiving party than an award of the Standard Basis. The ruling was apparently found 'because of the totally unnecessary proceedings that have taken place, a huge amount of costs which have been made much more expensive than they needed to because of decisions taken by Mr H'.

Avoiding these issues

Nightmare cases like this one, rare though they are, can tear families apart easily and leave children carrying hostility towards one or both parents for years after. In an ideal situation, all couples would divorce on an amicable basis and with the least possible amount of finger pointing and conflict, but too often the way the divorce courts in the UK work mean this is difficult to do. England and Wales still have no option for a ‘no fault’ divorce, meaning every divorce must have a petitioner and a respondent. Effectively, one person must file from divorce from the other because their behaviour is too intolerable to be expected to live with or because they have deserted them.

The respondent can often feel put out or betrayed when they receive the completed petition in the post and see examples of their behaviour listed by their spouse, followed by explanations of how depressed or lonely it made them feel. It can naturally be a very difficult process to remove the emotion from, and couples who might have started to divorce amicably could find things sour as examples of unreasonable behaviour begin to appear. Many couples use some form of mediation service or attend counselling either separately or together to maintain open channels of communication and keep things on an even footing. This can be really useful, but a great starting point is to just choose to complete your petition together where both spouses can see what’s being filed and can explain to each other why the particular examples have been chosen. Some couples even choose for the respondent to write their own examples of their unreasonable behaviour so relations between both parties don’t become strained, but that would be your choice.

Going through a divorce will always be a difficult time for a couple, particularly when there are children involved, but maintaining an amicable relationship can help streamline the process for all parties. Quickie Divorce has helped hundreds of thousands of uncontested couples separate, and our Personalised Plus Service package even includes a Clean Break Agreement to guarantee that financial deals you and your ex-spouse reach are enforceable by law.

The UK divorce rate has hovered around 40-50% for several years now, and all of us know couples who separated, often to the benefit of their relationship with each other as well as their children. Despite how commonplace it is, there’s still a huge amount of misinformation around the process and at Quickie Divorce we try to de-mystify as much of this as possible. It’s an important moment in your life and for your family, and the way we see it - the more straight-forward we can make things for you the less stressed out you’ll be. That’s why we offer free and confidential advice six days a week over the phone from our team of case managers as part of even our cheapest package. Today we’re looking at the court costs associated with divorce. We’re going to outline exactly what they are, why they need to be paid and what you can do if they’re not an affordable option for you at this time. Hopefully by the end you’ll have a better idea of how the whole process works.

How much do they cost?

If you’re divorcing in England and Wales, the courts require a fee for the processing of your petition. The ‘court cost’ will be paid to your local court and will cover the administrative cost of them processing your divorce from start to finish for you. It does not mean the cost of it being heard and fought in court, as some people believe, so even if your divorce is uncontested it will still need to be paid. The fee is currently set at £550 and is often the main obstacle for couples seeking to officially separate since the price has been steadily on the rise. The cost will be paid up front by the petitioner, this is the person who instigates the divorce and files the petition, but you will have an opportunity later on in the process to claim for the divorce fees from the respondent – more on that later

The £550 fee is the only fee you have to pay to be officially ‘divorced’ but we recommend paying the extra £50 court fee to gain a Consent Order too. A consent order is a formal statement saying that the financial agreement you and your ex-spouse made is final and bound by law – without one, they can take you to court at a later date if you come into more money to ask for a bigger settlement. Our Personal Plus Service comes with a consent order as standard to secure your future finances and keep them where they belong, in your bank account.

What if I can’t pay?

If you are on a low-income or if you’re unemployed, you can apply to the government for a remission in the cost of your fee. You will often end up paying a much-reduced amount, or no fee at all, so don’t worry if you can’t get £550 together.

If your divorce is fault-based and you are filing because of adultery, desertion or unreasonable behaviour you can ask in court for your spouse to pay your costs. In cases where your spouse does not agree to the divorce, there will be a special hearing after the decree nisi is pronounced to look specifically at the costs of the divorce. Here, you can argue that they should pay the costs and you should not, usually because you aren’t able to pay because they are too high. The judge will assess how much they should pay after a thorough examination of your finances and can even order it to be spread over instalments if appropriate. They can look at court costs as well as any and all other fees associated with the divorce, like solicitor’s fees, and will assess how ‘reasonable’ they are. The judge has guidelines as to what a reasonable fee is, depending on the area you live in and the locality of the court.

Thought for many it can be the right choice to pursue their ex-spouse for their legal fees, it can cause issues between you and they might actually even withdraw their consent at the decree nisi stage, making it more difficult for the process to be completed. If you want the divorce to go through as quickly and easily as possible, and you can afford the fees without too much trouble, its recommended that you don’t pursue them formally for the court fee. Informally, if you can come to an arrangement with them before attending court where you split the costs 50/50 then things will progress smoothly and fairly.

Court costs are actually a simple element of the divorce process, and luckily all of our packages come with free advice on any financial aspect as a consequence of divorce. We can instruct you on how to apply for the government court cost remission and provide you with your professionally drafted consent order or ‘Clean Break Order’. Remember - Clean Break Agreements are the only way to guarantee that financial deals you and your ex-spouse reach are enforceable by law. Clean Break Orders ensure that your ex-partner cannot go back to court to ask for more money or assets post-divorce. Clean Break Agreements help tie up financial matters such as maintenance and division of property, savings, shares, policies, and pensions. They can even settle child maintenance provided the terms are agreed by both parties and the court.

Still confused about divorce? Request a call back today for free, impartial advice from our expert team.

One of the most frequent questions we’re asked at Quickie Divorce is ‘how long will it take for me to be divorced?’ Separating couples want their time in court to go as quickly as possible, but some divorce providers can only manage to quote a 22-week average length of process. Because of our years of expertise and experienced case managers, the average length of a divorce with us is just 12 weeks! We’re one of the fastest ways to get a divorce in the UK, and we take a few key considerations into account when we’re progressing petitions that make things easier and quicker for you. The fastest way to get a divorce always starts at home, so we recommend that you talk to your spouse about the kind of separation you’re seeking out and what it generally looks like for you and your children, your finances etc. As long as you have both had an informal chat and share a general idea of your future, we can move forward in a strong position. Don’t forget – you also need to have been married for at least one year before you begin proceedings.

Work together

Keeping both you and your partner on the same page during divorce proceedings is the easiest way to expedite the entire process. It’s often easier to put the emotionally draining aspects of the divorce on the backburner if both of you are focused on the logical things like the financial and material objects the court will be able to rule over. Maintaining a line of dialogue between both camps should keep misunderstandings to a minimum, something that has tripped up many formerly amicable couples over time. For example, if you’re filing for divorce and using unreasonable behaviour as your grounds you will need to list several examples of times your spouse behaved like a ‘bad’ partner and how that made you feel. For some people, these personal examples and admissions of feelings of loneliness and sadness can be difficult to talk about and to read. Many couples choose to have the respondent list their own examples of unreasonable behaviour to limit this effect, or they sit down together and work on a list they can agree on rather than have the respondent simply open it in their mail and react emotionally alone.

Plan your future

Making a list of your shared and separate finances will speed up the process, and if you can come to an agreement between yourselves about how they might be divided in the divorce you could also save money on costly mediation. Take into account your house and your children, who will be their primary caregiver now? Regardless of whether you choose to apply for joint custody, one of you will probably end up paying child maintenance to the partner who earns less so having a frank conversation about that as early as possible will save trouble later on. You can begin your divorce before these arraignments have been finalised, so don’t let that hold you back from filing. Many people use the time it takes for the court to process their divorce as an opportunity to negotiate their settlement. When filing your divorce petition, the temptation might be to choose your nearest divorce centre but wait times can vary hugely around the country. Some centres might be inundated with petitions and this will slow down your divorce greatly, but we can help you find one that isn’t too busy with other work and give you an edge.

All being well, you and your spouse are still on the same page and when they receive your petition in the post they will send off their Acknowledgement of Service Form promptly. If they do that, you’ve trimmed off up to 21 days from the process compared to the length of time it would have taken if they chose not to respond. Just eight weeks later, a judge will hopefully look at your case and grant you your Decree Nisi. Six weeks after this, you will apply for your Decree Absolute and have your official certificate confirming your divorce and newfound single status! You can see that there are many important things to consider when you’re looking to divorce as quickly as possible, and with twenty years of experience helping couples separate our tips and tricks can shave off months of time from the process.

So what are you waiting for? Call us today to get started

The national average wait time for a divorce to be finalised, from start to finish, has been falling consistently for over five years and it has never been easier or more straightforward to separate. There are lots of guidelines online to give you an idea of how long your divorce might take, and though some divorce providers quote a figure of 22 weeks, our number is around 12 weeks. This is an average of all our divorces that are processed around the UK, but it usually holds true for most people. It’s worth noting that several factors can influence exactly how long it takes to fully divorce, and they can range from things within your control to things you might need a little bit of extra help with. To set yourself up for the most straightforward divorce, you should make sure you and your partner are on the same page and have agreed to the divorce on terms you have addressed with each other. You should also have been married for at least one calendar year before you begin proceedings, as this is the minimum length of time you must be married before you can legally divorce.

Making it move quicker

Most couples who divorce quickly have been separated for some time first, but don’t worry if that isn’t the case for you. The only real reason long separated couples have an edge is because often they have moved on from the more emotional aspects of the process and are focussed on the logical and business-like aspects of completing formal paperwork. If you and your spouse are recently separated, make sure that you are emotionally prepared for the pitfalls that can come with going through a divorce and ensure that you both definitely want to go through with it. Some people choose to have counselling first, or they get some form of coaching and support to make sure they feel strong enough for how gruelling the process can be in acrimonious cases.

Agreeing to the basic principles of the separation you’re both looking for will set you up in good stead for the legal proceedings. You should both make an honest list of your finances and come to an agreement between yourselves about what would be a fair solution in the dissolution. Take into account whether one of you will be the primary caregiver and have the children living with them, how much will this cost? How will they be taken care of? These are all important things the court will want to know. You can begin your divorce before the arraignments have been finalised, so don’t let that hold you back from filing. Many people use the time it takes for the court to process their divorce as an opportunity to negotiate their settlement. When filing your divorce petition, the temptation might be to choose your nearest divorce centre but wait times can vary hugely around the country. Some centres might be inundated with petitions and this will slow down your divorce massively, but we can help you find one that isn’t too busy with other work and give you an edge.

Your spouse

Once you have filled in your petition and filed it with the court, it will be sent to your spouse. If they respond with their Acknowledgement of Service Form promptly then you can trim up to 21 days off the process compared to them choosing not to respond at all. You will then receive a case number, and at the 8 week mark a judge will deliberate on whether your marriage has broken down with no going back. If they agree, you will soon both be in possession of your Decree Nisi certificate. We recommend filing your Consent Order at the same time as your Decree Nisi application. This Order is the only way to guarantee that the financial deals you and your ex-spouse reach are enforceable by law and your partner can’t take you to court in the future to ask for more money or assets. Clean Break Agreements help tie up financial matters like maintenance and division of property, savings, pensions etc. Our Personalised Plus Service package includes a Clean Break Order and Lifetime Will as standard at a great saving.

Getting your Decree Absolute is the final step, and you can apply for this 6 weeks and one day after you receive your Decree Nisi. Roughly two weeks later you will have your official certificate that states you are legally divorces and the process is finalised. You can now remarry!

It might be tempting to opt for a DIY divorce and try to complete and file all of the appropriate forms yourself, but with twenty years of experience and a team of dedicated case managers we can offer unrivalled support and insight into the process that can shave weeks off your divorce. Request a call back today for free, impartial advice and see if we’re right for you.

The course of true love is bumpy, and separation can be even rockier. When you make the decision to divorce, you’re always hoping for a straightforward and amicable split with both parties trying their best to make it work. Sometimes that just isn’t the case and your partner may not want to play ball. The most common way your spouse could try and slow down or even stop the process of divorce is by ignoring your petition when you file it, and not sending back their Acknowledgement of Service. Though it’s tempting to assume the worst if you don’t get an immediate response from them once you’ve filed, it’s worth finding out if they received the papers at all. Perhaps you have an old address for them, and their mail hasn’t been re-directed? Whatever the reason, your first steps should be to find out and then prove they have been served with the petition.

Serving the papers

You can ask the court bailiff to personally serve them with the papers for a fee, or you can hire a private process server. This can be costly but will prove to the court that you are willing to take serious steps to locate your spouse and will probably culminate in them finding and serving them with the appropriate papers. It is true that divorcing after five years of separation can be done without consent, you must then satisfy the court that you have tried to contact your spouse to serve them the papers using all reasonable means. You must prove to the court that you do not know where your spouse is, and that you have contacted their friends and family to attempt to get in contact with them. You must also have taken steps to track them down using the electoral roll, their last known employer and even their bank.

Divorce without consent

It’s difficult to persuade a court to allow you to separate from your partner without consent unless you really have exhausted all possible avenues to try to get in touch with them, so it is in your interests to try your best to locate your spouse to reduce the cost of your divorce and the time is takes for you to get your decree absolute. You should send your completed forms to the last known address of your partner, and then your regional divorce centre will let you know if the divorce petition is returned unopened. If it is, you can then apply for the petition to be sent through another method such as via email, or by applying to have the centre search other government departments for their new address or other addresses. If all of your searches are fruitless, you will be forced to fill in the statement to dispense with service of divorce petition to ask the court to proceed with your divorce proceedings even though the respondent could not be served with the papers. This will incur a £50 court fee.

In a worst-case scenario, your spouse may be dead, and you would then be forced to apply for a D8D form to end the marriage through other means. This will incur a £365 court fee and we would recommend it goes along with formal legal advice on gathering appropriate evidence, but once the form is filed you will be granted a form allowing you to officially remarry in the future.

If you’re still confused about how the court deals with an unopened divorce petition, you can call us today for free, impartial advice.

With the average cost of a divorce in the UK now standing at more than £14,000 when legal fees and changes to people’s living arrangements are taken into account, it’s understandable that anyone that’s looking to end their marriage wants to know what they can do to save money on the process. This is what results in people regularly asking whether or not their divorce will be cheaper if the parties agree to it.

Generally speaking, the vast majority of divorces are uncontested meaning that both spouses want to divorce. As a result, the fact that the parties agree to the divorce rarely makes the process cheaper. Instead, it is the services that are used and their personal circumstances that are more likely to drive down the cost of their divorce.

Court fees for divorce in the UK

Sadly, the UK’s courts request a fee of £550 be paid to them when a Divorce Petition is filed in order to cover their administrative costs. This fee is required irrespective of whether you have a solicitor, are doing your own divorce or you’re using an online divorce provider.

You may have this fee reduced or may not even need to pay it at all under certain circumstances, however. To find out if you need to pay court fees when filing for a divorce simply click here.

High-street solicitor divorces are expensive

Undoubtedly the most expensive way of getting a divorce is to instruct a solicitor. They charge up to £500 per hour and it’s easy to see how costs can rapidly spiral out of control as a result. Combine this with the fact that they’re obliged to pick holes in agreements – making matters more complicated in the process – and a solicitor-led divorce can easily cost thousands of pounds.

If a couple consent to a divorce and how to divide their joint assets, there is absolutely no need to instruct a solicitor; in fact, doing so would be little more than a waste of money. The only circumstances under which it would be advisable that someone uses the services of a solicitor is if they and their spouse are unable to negotiate a financial settlement between them or with the assistance of a mediator.

DIY divorce can be cheap… but is often a false economy

If you’re able to, completing your own divorce papers and filing them with the court is undoubtedly the cheapest way to get a divorce… provided said papers are completely free from mistakes. With the fee for submitting corrected documents exceeding £100, small mistakes can quickly result in big costs.

How much does a divorce cost with Quickie Divorce?

Twenty years ago, Quickie Divorce identified that, with people left with no option but to pay excessive solicitors’ fees or do their own divorces, there was a gap in the market that people desperately wanted filled. Accordingly, we created our pioneering fixed-fee packages and will complete all of your divorce papers for just £67.

For additional financial security, we’ll also complete all of your divorce papers plus a Clean Break agreement for just £167.

If you’ve made the difficult decision to divorce, you might be assuming that your house and finances will simply be split down the middle and divided evenly between you and your spouse in court. It’s an understandable assumption but it doesn’t always capture the full picture of how complex it can be to sort out finances that have been tied up with someone else for a number of years. The courts take several things into account, and they base these things around a specific section of the law regarding marriages. The financial implications of your divorce can be the most important part of the separation, so it’s important you take the proper advice before you approach the court. All of our packages include financial advice as standard.

Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973

This section covers the criteria the court will use when considering how to divide finances when a couple seek a divorce from one another. In the eyes of the court, a parent who chooses to stay at home to ensure the smooth running of the household and take the bulk of the child-rearing has contributed just as much to the family unit as a parent who works and brings home money.

• The income, earning capacity, property and other financial resources which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
• The financial needs, obligations and responsibilities which each of the parties to the marriage has or is likely to have in the foreseeable future;
• The standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage;
• The age of each party to the marriage and the duration of the marriage;
• Any physical or mental disability of either of the parties to the marriage;
• The contributions made by each of the parties to the welfare of the family, including any contribution made by looking after the home or caring for the family;
• In the case of proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage, the value to either of the parties to the marriage of any benefit (for example, a pension) which, by reason of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage, that party will lose the chance of acquiring.

How to prepare for negotiations

There are some things you can do in advance to streamline the process and give yourself the best chance at a fair settlement. You should get all of your financial documents in order and ensure that they are dated and labelled to make it easier to refer back to them. You should also apply for statements to show the current value of any pension funds you might have. If you are planning on arguing for a specific split, it’s best to formulate the reasons you’re asking for the sum you’re looking for. Ask yourself, can I afford to live on my own? How much am I currently spending in a month on myself and my children? If you are not working, or are working part-time, would it make sense to take on extra hours? Childcare should always be taken into account, and any costs associated with your home currently and potentially in the future. There are online resources that can ease the burden and help you calculate some of these sums, and you can also identify if you now qualify for financial help from the government or child maintenance.

All of our packages include financial advice as standard, and our Personal Plus package even comes with a free Clean Break agreement worth £99. Clean Break Orders ensure that your ex-partner cannot go back to court to ask for more money or assets post-divorce and are the only way to guarantee that financial deals you and your ex-spouse reach are enforceable by law. Give us a call today and we can get you started.

Quickie Divorce’s customers regularly ask our advisers whether or not they believe the reasons they’re divorcing their husband or wife are acceptable. In some instances, these people want to know if their reasons are legally acceptable and if a judge will be sufficiently satisfied to grant them a divorce. Others are seeking assurance that the cause of their marital dissatisfaction are reasonable and justified. Whatever they’re reason for asking us this question, though, we have the answers.

What are the legally acceptable reasons for divorce

There are a total of four legally acceptable reasons for divorce, each will need to be accompanied by certain information in order for the application to bring about the end of the marriage. These reasons are:

Adultery

Adultery takes place when a married spouse willingly engages in sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex. Surprisingly, other sexual acts do not constitute adultery, nor is it legally considered to be adultery if a spouse has a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex.

In order to successfully obtain a divorce on the grounds of adultery, the spouse applying for the divorce will need to state when they discovered the adultery had taken place, how they found out and the date in which they and their spouse then separated.

Unreasonable behaviour

Unreasonable behaviour is used when someone has behaved in such a way that their husband or wife feel that they cannot remain married to them anymore.

When filing on this ground, it is necessary to provide at least four examples of unreasonable behaviour. Most importantly, the applicant must state how this behaviour negatively affected them.

Two-year separation with consent

As the name suggests, this ground can be used when a couple have been living separate lives for more than two years and they both agree to a divorce.

When filing on this ground, the only information the courts will need is the date on which the couple began living separate lives.

Five-year separation

Like the reasons discussed previously, this ground is equally simple and can be cited when a couple have been living separately for more than five years. Unlike the reason given previously, though, there is no need for both parties to agree to the divorce.

Again, the only additional piece of information required when these grounds are relied upon is the date the couple separated and began living apart.

What about morally acceptable reasons for divorce?

The decision to end a marriage is one that is so often fraught with doubt and uncertainty that it should come as no surprise to hear that the people that are going through it sometimes seek assurance that they’re doing the right thing; that their decision to divorce won’t be viewed as superfluous or reactionary. When a customer queries whether or not we feel that their decision to divorce is the right one, we always advise them to consider whether their marriage was making them happy. If they can honestly say that it wasn’t, then their decision to divorce is, in our opinion fully justified.

If you have any other questions about divorce, click here to request a call from one of our advisers today.

With the ever-rising cost of getting married in the UK, more and more couples are looking abroad for their big day. Paying for the day’s run of your local castle, a full package of photos and enough food and drink to keep a few hundred-people happy for an evening can add up easily to a few thousand pounds and its simply not affordable for many cash-strapped couples. Far more appealing is the idea of inviting your closest friends and family to fly out somewhere warm and watch you celebrate your love, grabbing a quick holiday in the process. It’s an ideal set up where everyone is happy, that is unless you eventually separate and start to think about officially divorcing. You and your partner are both under stress, trying to navigate a process that can be confusing even in straightforward instances – but you married abroad. Does this mean you have to divorce abroad, too? Thankfully we’re here to explain it all so you can focus on maintaining an amicable relationship and sorting your finances out like any separating pair of British citizens. Our handy 'At a Glance' guide should help you follow the steps.

I live in the UK, but was married abroad

As long as you or your spouse are currently living in the England or Wales, you are under the jurisdiction of their courts regardless of where you were married. This means you can easily divorce here using Quickie Divorce, provided you both consent to the process. Problems could spring up if your marriage certificate was issued in another language, as it should be in English for the divorce process. If this is the case, you will need to get a notarised copy of the document, this means you will contact and pay a professional to translate the document and then visiting a Public Notary for them to declare that the translation is correct. This can be a costly procedure, but it needs to happen for you to divorce so its well worth the expense.

Other issues can arise if you no longer have the original copy of your marriage certificate in the first place – you will then need to get a certified copy which can only come from the relevant authority within the country you were married. Each country has a different process for this, so it’s worth getting in touch with their individual government to find out what your next steps are. To streamline this you can also reach out to your holiday or wedding planner, if you used one, because they will be well placed to be familiar with the local procedure. Contacting the relevant embassy is also a useful idea.

I still live abroad but my spouse is in the UK

If your spouse currently lives in England or Wales and you live abroad, you can still divorce them. You can act as the petitioner and send them, and the courts the completed divorce forms and they can ask as the respondent, and consent to the divorce. Please note that despite being part of the UK, for the purposes of divorcing in England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland also count as ‘foreign’ and are subject to the same difference in process. Couples should use courts in those countries if both parties reside in them.

I divorced abroad, is it valid in the UK?

It depends. If your divorce was granted in an EU member country, then the divorce will almost certainly be recognised in the UK. There will usually have been a formal legal system with binding orders that utilise formal procedures regarding legal matters in order for them to be a member nation in the first place, so you’re probably in the clear. If the divorce was granted in a country outside of the EU, you should consider whether the process you followed was formal, with a requirement to submit documents and a process of review before it was approved similar to how the UK courts would deal with the papers. If there was a formal procedure and the divorce is officially recognised in the country where it was granted, it is probably valid in the UK too.

The biggest indicator of if your foreign divorce is valid is if either of you have any connection to the country you divorced in. If one of you is originally from there or currently lives there, and that’s why you divorced there, this makes sense and the process was probably binding and fully recognised all over the world. If not, you need to ask yourself why.

You should seek legal advice if you are still unsure, as an incomplete divorce can potentially cost you huge amounts of money in the long run inheritance claims and problems with wills.

For specific advice, you can contact us and we can assist you.

A far greater number of married couples separate – only to remain married indefinitely – than anyone would reasonably expect. As a result, people regularly contact Quickie Divorce and ask us how they can divorce a spouse they’ve not seen or spoken to in several years.

In response, we inform them that whilst it’s possible to obtain a divorce without knowing their spouse’s whereabouts, it’s significantly easier if they do and they should therefore try the following:

• Contact their family or friends

If you’re still in contact with or are able to contact any of your spouse’s friends, family, colleagues or anyone else, it’s worth getting in touch with them to see if they can put you in touch with them.

Once common hurdle people face here is convincing people to hand over the contact details they need but several people have informed us that they achieved their goal by instead providing mutual friends or family with their details and asking them to pass them on to their spouse and ask them to get in touch.

• Check the electoral/open register

If your former spouse is registered to vote and still live in your local area, you’ll be able to find their current address by contacting your local Electoral Registration Office. You can find yours by clicking here.

• Hire a private detective

In the event that neither of the above bear fruit, your best chance lies with a private detective.

The good news here is that they shouldn’t need any information you’re unlikely to have. Generally, they’ll need your spouse’s name, their date of birth and an old address. The bad news is that their industry isn’t regulated so we’d recommend that you do your research on any individual and/or organisation you’re considering before instructing them.

But can you get a divorce if you can’t find your spouse?

In the event that you’re unable to locate your spouse, you can still obtain a divorce, but you must formally ask that the court allow you to do so. In order to make such a request, you’ll have to apply for a divorce as usual and provide the last address you possess for your spouse. If this is returned to you unopened, then you can resubmit your documents to the court along with a completed Statement to Dispense with Service of a Divorce Petition and a fee of £50.

Within this form, you’ll need to outline everything that you’ve done in order to try and locate your spouse and your divorce application will be allowed to proceed without your spouse’s knowledge if the courts are satisfied with these efforts.

Did this post answer your question? If you still need information about divorce in the UK click on the link to contact our team of advisers today.