FAQs

You cannot commence divorce proceedings on your own adultery, or indeed your own unreasonable behaviour.

There is only one ground for divorce in England and Wales, that is that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. This can be on one or more of five facts. These are: Adultery; unreasonable behavour; desertion for two years; separation for two years with both spouses agreeing, or separation for five years.

You cannot commence divorce proceedings until you have been married for one year.

Once you have proved the facts of your case you are granted a Decree Nisi. There is a historical gap between Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute. Once the Decree Absolute is received your marriage will be dissolved. This carries legal consequences.

If your financial settlement hasn't yet been concluded, you should not apply for Decree Absolute. The timing of this is crucial in any case.

The first to start proceedings will take precedence where the proceedings should be. If you do not start proceedings first, it may affect your financial settlement.

Proceeding outside Europe must also be dealt with carefully to ensure that you do not lose the jurisdictional race to affect your settlement.

There is a myth in this country that pre-nuptial agreements are not binding and therefore should be ignored. This is a dangerous assumption since in many cases pre-nuptial agreements are now being held to be binding and could severely affect the financial settlement.