In all but the most extreme cases, the reasons why your marriage broke down will have no effect on the financial outcome. Money is dealt with on a largely ‘no fault’ basis. There are exceptions in circumstances where misconduct has been very extreme or has led to an objectively significant financial consequence.

There are time limits for responding to an application for a divorce, which should be complied with. In some cases - for example, if there is a choice of jurisdictions in which the divorce could take place - these time limits can be crucially important. If you have received divorce papers or been served with an application by email, get in touch with JMW and we will work with you to identify the next steps.

This is the term for the first of two decrees (a kind of court order) in the proceedings. For divorces starting on or after 6 April 2022, the equivalent order is called a conditional order. If your divorce proceedings started before this date, it will still be called a decree nisi.

To apply for a decree nisi or conditional order, the person who began the divorce proceedings confirms the contents of their original application and asks the court to grant the decree/order. The main difference for divorces taking place under the new law is the addition of a 20-week waiting period between the date the divorce was issued (initiated by the court) and the application for conditional order. This period can be shortened in very exceptional circumstances.

Under the no fault divorce legislation, couples can apply for their divorce jointly and can also apply for a conditional order jointly. Options exist for situations where an application begins jointly but needs to continue with a sole applicant.

Provided all the forms are in order and no technical problems are identified, the court will set a date for ‘pronouncing’ the decree nisi or making the conditional order, which just means reading it out in court. In almost all cases, neither party has to be present for this.

Once decree nisi or conditional order has been granted, the court has the power to make a financial order dealing with the money, whether this has been reached by agreement or following a contested court process.

This is the term for the second of the two decrees (a kind of court order). For divorce proceedings starting before 6 April 2022, this term will continue to be used. For divorces beginning on or after that date, it is called a ‘final order’.

Once the decree nisi / conditional order has been granted, the person who began the divorce proceedings can apply for the decree absolute or final order six weeks and one day later. For divorces starting on or after 6 April 2022, this application can be made by the parties jointly if the applications for the divorce and conditional order were made jointly. Options exist for situations where it is no longer possible to proceed on a joint basis.

In most cases, clients will be advised to delay applying for decree absolute or final order until a separate court order dealing with the financial aspects of the divorce has been approved by the court.

Once the decree absolute or final order has been granted, the marriage comes to an end and the parties are said to be ‘divorced’.

Only the court can grant divorces; however, in reality, the divorce process generally takes place online with electronic forms passing between the parties and the court. Only a tiny minority of cases need substantive input from a judge and very few couples actually have to attend court to deal with the divorce itself.

You can agree the financial aspects of separation without getting divorced using a separation agreement but the only way to get a final and binding settlement is to obtain a financial court order after the decree nisi / conditional order has been granted within the divorce proceedings. This financial order can either be agreed by the parties or decided by a judge after a contested court process.

The court order must be approved by a judge otherwise it is not valid. It then becomes legally binding at the point of decree absolute or final order.

We normally anticipate that the procedure from application to decree absolute / final order will take just over six months. In most cases, clients are advised to delay the last step of decree absolute or final order until a financial order has been approved and stamped by the court. As financial negotiations and/or contested proceedings can take some time, particularly if a case is complex, the divorce will often take longer than six months.

The decree absolute / final order is accessible to any member of the public, including the parties themselves.

The decree absolute or final order will record various details, including the parties’ full names, the date and place of their marriage ceremony and the date they were finally divorced. Documents from divorces that proceeded under the old law (pre-6 April 2022), showing the fact on which the divorce is based and further details, such as allegations of unreasonable behaviour, are not generally available.

If you have lost your decree absolute or final order and need to obtain an official copy, there are various ways of getting what you need, depending on what information you have. The best starting place is the government website.

In general, if a couple has been through divorce proceedings and obtained a decree absolute or final order, this cannot be reversed. The only way they can become married again is to have another official wedding ceremony.

If the decree absolute or final order has not yet been granted and the parties wish to halt the divorce process because they have reconciled, they can do so. There are various procedures, depending on what stage has been reached.

There are a tiny handful of cases in which the court can set aside (cancel, overturn) a decree nisi or conditional order, and even a decree absolute or final order for other reasons. This includes cases where orders have been obtained by fraud, where there are doubts over the existence of the marriage in the first place or an argument that the marriage has already been brought to an end in another country.

It depends on what stage in the divorce process has been reached and the reasons for withdrawing it.

If a person has started divorce proceedings and simply changed their mind, they can stop the process up to the point of decree nisi or conditional order. However, to ensure clarity for everyone involved, it would be sensible to take legal advice to make sure that all the correct steps have been taken. This would avoid any future doubt over either party’s marital status.

Couples who have got back together after a decree nisi or conditional order has been granted can apply to undo it. If a decree absolute or final order has been granted then it is not possible to undo it, unless there has been a serious legal problem with the original process.

If someone has sent a divorce application to court and wishes to change its contents, rather than halt the proceedings altogether, they can do so, provided no application for a decree nisi or conditional order has been made. They may or may not need the permission of the court to do this, depending on what steps in the proceedings have been taken by their spouse.

Under the law in force up to the end of 5 April 2022, a person starting divorce proceedings based on adultery technically had to ‘prove’ that the person against whom the allegation was made (the respondent) had actually had sexual intercourse with another person of the opposite sex. That other person was known as a “co-respondent”.

In modern times, proof of adultery has almost always been obtained by the respondent completing the relevant section of the acknowledgement of service, without the “other person” being named in the paperwork. The co-respondent would then be listed as “Unnamed Man/Woman”.

Decades ago, the co-respondent was routinely named and the divorce papers were served upon them so that the allegation could be put to them formally. However, this practice became less and less common and the relevant rules actively discouraged petitioners from naming a co-respondent, unless they believed that the divorce would be contested. For this reason, divorce petitions with a named co-respondent were almost unheard of, long before no fault divorce came into law.

For divorces starting on or after 6 April 2022, it is no longer an option to base the divorce on adultery or indeed any of the other facts (behaviour, desertion, two or five years’ separation). The only proof required is a simple statement by one or both parties that their marriage has irretrievably broken down.

This depends on whether your divorce proceedings started before or after 6 April 2022.

Divorces starting (issued) before 6 April 2022

If your divorce is based on one of the fault ‘facts’ (i.e. adultery, behaviour or desertion), you can claim the legal costs associated with the actual divorce, including the court fee. It makes sense for the parties to agree a figure for costs because it is disproportionate to ask the court to make a decision on this relatively modest amount of money.

The claim for costs within the divorce petition can only include those associated with preparing and progressing the divorce itself. If the divorce is based upon separation, the parties generally pay their own costs.

Divorces starting (issued) on or after 6 April 2022

In keeping with the principles of no fault divorce, it is no longer be the norm to apply for costs. In the overwhelming majority of cases, no order for costs will be made. That said, the parties can decide between themselves how to share the costs, including the court fee.

Costs orders will only be made in cases where one of the parties has handled the proceedings in an unreasonable way, for example by deliberately evading service. In the minority of cases where this is relevant, costs orders can also be made where either party is unsuccessful in a dispute about jurisdiction or the existence and validity of the marriage.

The person seeking a costs order must make a separate application explaining the reasons why they think a costs order should be made, ideally before the making of a conditional order but at the latest by the time of the final order.

In all cases

Legal costs incurred dealing with other issues, such as finances and child arrangements, are completely separate and the general rule is that each party pays their own costs. It is only in the more extreme cases that either party’s behaviour will have any impact on financial matters and/or child arrangements. For more information about the way in which “conduct” will be dealt with, read our article on the topic.