Divorce Solicitors

Here’s the quick answer…there’s only one ground, and that is, that your marriage has broken down irretrievably. As we now have no fault-based divorce you no longer have to prove anything else. So, what happened to “adultery” and “unreasonable behaviour”?

Up until April 2022, to get a divorce, one spouse would have to blame the other for the breakdown of the marriage, either citing ‘adultery’ or ‘unreasonable behaviour’, or they would have to have been separated for a minimum of 2 years (or 5 years if consent from the other spouse was not given). This situation was unsatisfactory, leading to discussions at our first meeting! Many of my clients presumed that they could divorce simply because of ‘irreconcilable differences’, but this is a US term and not something recognised in English law.

Matters came to a head with the 2018 Supreme Court case of Owens v Owens. In that case, Mrs Owens wanted a divorce from her husband and so she set out her reasons (her husband’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’) in her divorce petition. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court (after the case had gone through all the lower Courts already) decided that Mrs Owens’ reasons for wanting a divorce were not sufficient, i.e. the Judges felt that her husband’s behaviour hadn’t been that bad and so she couldn’t divorce him! This meant that Mrs Owens was left in the very unsatisfactory situation of not being able to divorce her husband until they had been separated for 5 years. The fact that Judges could decide whether a marriage had or had not broken down, when one party was telling them that it had, was seen as significantly out of step with current attitudes.

The decision in the Owens case received much media attention and galvanised calls for reform. This reform finally came in April 2022 with the introduction of new legislation which meant that:

1. The old ‘grounds’ for divorce of adultery and unreasonable behaviour or having to wait up to 5 years after separation, were abolished.
2. In their place was the introduction of ‘no fault’ divorce. This means that reasons for the divorce no longer need to be given; the parties just need to have been married for a minimum of 1 year.
3. The procedure was also streamlined, with the removal of the ability of one party to challenge the divorce, to prevent a repeat of the situation in the Owens case where Mr Owen successfully challenged the divorce.
4. An attempt was also made to bring some of the language used in divorce into the 21st century by replacing archaic terms such as ‘decree nisi’ and ‘decree absolute’ with ‘conditional order’ and ‘final order’.

The changes have generally been seen as a step in the right direction, although there are some who feel that the option to still be able to blame one party for the divorce should be available. However, in keeping with the Court’s approach in Family Law matters to try and reduce conflict on separation, it was felt that there shouldn’t be the opportunity to apportion blame in the divorce application. As such, all divorces are now ‘no fault’.

So, the short answer to the question ‘What are the grounds for divorce?’ is now simply that one party feels that the marriage has irretrievably broken down.

There are two different questions here.

For lawyers, the divorce only means dealing with the legal process of ending the marriage i.e. applying for the divorce through to the final order. Dealing with the financial aspects of the separation and any child arrangements, albeit very important parts of the separation, are separate and distinct from the divorce process itself.

However, most non-lawyers refer to the divorce as the whole process of sorting out the separation i.e. dividing up the assets, agreeing arrangements for any children and actually getting the final divorce certificate (what was the ‘decree absolute’, but is now called the ‘final order’).

So, when a client asks the above question, they may mean:

‘how long will (just) the legal process of getting the divorce certificate take?

Or they may mean:

‘how long will the whole process take from splitting up, to everything to do with the separation being concluded?’

In terms of simply dealing with the legal process of ending the marriage, the timescale is approximately 7 – 8 months.

Sorting out all aspects of the separation i.e. financial matters and child arrangements; the second question above, can be dealt with in the same timescale as the divorce. The approach favoured by Belderbos Solicitors is to offer realistic and pragmatic advice and to actively encourage negotiation, with a view to agreeing all matters quickly and cost-effectively. In these circumstances it is often possible to deal with all parts of the separation within the timescale of the actual divorce process itself i.e. within 7 – 8 months. It is even often the case that everything is sorted out much earlier, with the parties simply waiting for the final order in the divorce to make everything ‘official’ but having already divided their assets and moved on with their lives. As such, the process doesn’t have to be long-winded or drawn out, but instead with the right guidance matters can be resolved swiftly and in a conciliatory way.

It is when parties cannot, or will not, cooperate, negotiate or compromise, that their case may fall into the black hole that is the Court process where timescales increase significantly, as do costs.

Again, this is potentially two questions:

1. For the divorce itself, Belderbos Solicitors offer a fixed fee of £600 + VAT. There is then the Court fee of £593.
2. The costs for dealing with all aspects of the separation i.e. sorting out the finances and any child arrangements, can be considerably higher than this. However, this does not always have to be the case. Seeking early advice from a Solicitor who specialises in Family Law, particularly one who is a member of Resolution (an organisation of Family Law professionals that promotes a constructive approach to family issues), will allow you to understand your options and, therefore look to enter early negotiations (together, via Mediation, or using Solicitors) to keep costs and acrimony to a minimum.

A question I’m often asked is, can we get things sorted cheaper if we both agree everything. The answer to this question is always a resounding ‘yes’! If you and your spouse can agree how the assets are going to be split and when the children are going to spend time with each parent, then having the terms set out in a formal agreement will certainly be much cheaper than going to Court.

However, that is not to say that you should simply agree what your spouse or partner is saying they want to do. Although the starting point in terms of the division of the assets on divorce is that there should be equality, many cases do not result in a straight 50/50 split of all the assets. This is because if one party is earning more than the other, or one party is going to have the children living with them for more of the time, then a 50/50 division of the assets may not be a fair outcome.

Whilst seeking legal advice can be perceived as expensive, being pressured by your spouse into agreeing a poor settlement is much more expensive in the long run. Pensions are a good example of this as it is often the case that pensions are ignored on divorce with the main concern being about rehousing. However, the value of pensions can in some cases exceed the value of the family home and so must not be ignored. One of the risks of settling without first obtaining legal advice is that you do not receive a fair share of the assets. Based on “you don’t know, what you don’t know” the real question may be, can I afford not to take legal advice?

As mentioned above, the starting point in deciding how the assets should be divided on divorce is that there should be equality. However, also as mentioned above, most cases do not end up with an equal 50/50 split. So how is the decision made about who should get what? The answer is that the Law sets out the following checklist of factors that should be taken into account when deciding what would be a fair split of the assets:

• 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, including in the case of earning capacity, any increase in that capacity which it would, in the opinion of the court be reasonable to expect a party to the marriage to take steps to acquire;
• 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 which each of the parties has made or is likely in the foreseeable future to make to the welfare of the family, including any contribution by looking after the home or caring for the family;
• the conduct of each of the parties, if that conduct is such that it would in the opinion of the court be inequitable to disregard it;
• the value to each of the parties to the marriage of any benefit which, by reason of the dissolution or annulment of the marriage, that party will lose the chance of acquiring.

However, the above checklist of factors is little use if you don’t know what assets your spouse has. For your solicitor to be able to advise you on what would be a fair division of the assets, considering the above factors, they will need to see what is called ‘financial disclosure’ from you and your spouse. Financial disclosure is where both parties provide full details of their financial resources, so it is clear what the assets, income and liabilities are. It is only after financial disclosure has taken place that considering the above checklist, that your Solicitor will be able to help you with what would be a fair division of the assets.

This is an easy one! You can get a copy of a decree absolute or final order using the government website.

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