Going through a Divorce is one of the most stressful situations in life. You need to make informed decisions and find solutions to your issues and achieve a stress free divorce proceedings.

When issuing  divorce petitions you will need guidance in order to save costs, moreover save acrimony between the parties.

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​Changes to the Divorce law in April 2022

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The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 has brought major changes to the legal requirements and processes for divorce. The main aims of the act is to 

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Remove one party's ability to make allegations about the conduct of the other - no fault divorces 

New provision for couples to make amicable joint applications 

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In trying to achieve above, there are significant changes to divorce laws in the UK. Parties will not be able to rely on the five grounds under the old law when drafting the petition. Under the new law,  a party (or jointly if its amicable) could proclaim that the marriage had broken-down irretrievably.

 

Parties cannot  contest a divorce as in the previous laws. The applicant of the petition proclaiming that the marriage has broken-down irretrievably will be accepted by court as adequate evidence. However, there are few instances a party can still contest a divorce such as Challenging the Jurisdiction or illegal marriages etc. 

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The party issuing the petition will be called 'The applicant' instead of petitioner. Likewise, previously referred Respondent is now referred to as 'Applicant 2'. 

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Another significant change is that the parties have to go through a time period of minimum 20 weeks before they could obtain a 'Conditional Divorce Order' (previously referred to as 'Decree Nisi'). They then have to wait a further 6 weeks before they can apply for 'Final Divorce Order' (which was previously referred to as 'Decree Absolute').