Cheapest Divorce

Trollydolly_2

Right my male friend and his wife have been split up for 6 months, she currently lives with her ex husband although insists they are not a couple and its just because they both own the house (whaaateveeeer) and my friend has accomodation through his work.
They dont have any children together.
She left him saying he had been having an affair, he did sleep with someone else but she knew about it and stayed with him for a further 6 months after she knew about it. It is believed she was seeing her ex husband too, although no proof.
Anyway what would be the cheapest way for them to get a divorce?? and is it easy to do those kits you can buy at bookshops???

Any suggestions would be welcomed as he is a bit rubbish at these kind of things and i dont know where to begin to advise him.

Thank u

mandi

Yes DIY, from WH Smiths cost £ 10.00, has a CD with it. Should be quite straight forward as there are no children involved

mandi

Helen_from_yorkshire

You can get the paperwork to apply for a divorce from the Court, I believe the paperworks free but you obviously have to pay a fee when you submit the application.

mookiandco

its £300.00 to file a divorce petition and £40.00 to apply for a decree absolute. a solicitor should charge a standard fee of about £1000.00. but it is fairly easy to do yourself.

there is only one ground for divorce which is that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. This must be proved by one of 5 facts. these are adultery, unreasonable behaviour, 2 yrs separation (with consent), desertion and 5 yrs separation. Unreasonable behaviour is the most common.

the first section on a petition asks for standard information (date of marriage, where married, addresses, if any children etc). the second section is the particulars where you set out the reasons for wanting a divorce. the court needs details of 3-4 incidents (if on unreasonable behaviour). Include the most recent (reason for concluding marriage at an end), the worst and the first. Try to use mild allegations of behaviour.

the next part is the prayer. this lists financial claims you may want to make. you should always leave this in even if you have no intention of making a financial claim now. you should always protect yourself.

You can print off the divorce petition and notes for completing it from https://www.hmcs.gov.uk. That is all you really need.

Good luck.

ellies_angel

I'm not sure about the laws in England, but in Scotland my Divorce cost me £62.
You can apply for a divorce after 1 years seperation (providing both parties agree) 2 years if it is contested.
I went into the court house, picked up the forms, filled them in, got my ex to sign them, back to the court house with a cheque for £62 and hey presto 2 months later, through came the divorce.
The seperation agreement was costly, dividing up the belongings and getting that in writing.

child359

mookiandco wrote: »

its £300.00 to file a divorce petition and £40.00 to apply for a decree absolute. a solicitor should charge a standard fee of about £1000.00. but it is fairly easy to do yourself.

there is only one ground for divorce which is that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. This must be proved by one of 5 facts. these are adultery, unreasonable behaviour, 2 yrs separation (with consent), desertion and 5 yrs separation. Unreasonable behaviour is the most common.

the first section on a petition asks for standard information (date of marriage, where married, addresses, if any children etc). the second section is the particulars where you set out the reasons for wanting a divorce. the court needs details of 3-4 incidents (if on unreasonable behaviour). Include the most recent (reason for concluding marriage at an end), the worst and the first. Try to use mild allegations of behaviour.

the next part is the prayer. this lists financial claims you may want to make. you should always leave this in even if you have no intention of making a financial claim now. you should always protect yourself.

You can print off the divorce petition and notes for completing it from www.hmcs.gov.uk. That is all you really need.

Good luck.

I can confirm that £300 in England is correct and the cheapest, my brother is doing it at the moment and I am saving up for mine!!!
However I did the divorce for my ex husband in 2000 and it was the same process then, just a bit cheaper:eek:

This is the cheapest. Just make sure it is good enough reasons otherwise the judge would turn it down. Apparently the judge thinks to himself "would I put up with this behaviour in a normal marriage!!" if so your divorce is granted Nisi, fingers crossed he doesn't allow his wife to sleep with her ex husband!!!!

celyn90

The advice above is correct, £300 is the standard fee the court charges for lodging the petition in England. This is payable to the court whatever you decide to do and any extra legal fees charged by a solictor are on top of this. There can be extra small fees, we had to pay £30 for the court baliff as she refused to answer the first petition that was posted and there is another fee for the decree absolute (£40 or so I think) that you have to pay.

Is he likely to agree to the divorce? This makes a big difference. If they agree on the terms, who is divorcing who and are willing to sign the paper then it will be easy. We're going through hell at the moment with my partners ex because she said she's defending (no money to split, no kids, no property, no assets and he has *all* the debt (about 10K) :rolleyes: ). It's been dragging on for months now.

Best of luck OP, hope it all works out for you, cel x

celyn90

star74 wrote: »

Defended divorces are extremely rare in this country so I would be surprised of she was defending. Or is it she's just dragging her feet and not co-operating? There are ways and means around that especially if your partner has petitioned the court on unreasonable behaviour which is usually more preferable to petition on where the other party is going to be difficult.

Yep, he did file for unreasonable behaviour. I know defending is rare, which is why I'm so confused. She's dragging her heels and has signalled intent to defend to the court. She refused to reply to petition so we had the second one delivered by the baliff. We then got a letter saying that he either a) withdraw and filed again in 2 years b) withdraw c) let her cross-petition but he pays the costs (if I remember correctly)

He doesn't want to withdraw as she told him before he filed, when he told her he wanted a divorce, that she would never sign the papers and he'd have to wait 5 years and she would make him suffer for that time. Even though she said she would sign in a years time in her solicitors letter, he knows she wouldn't and we would have no legal recourse if she refused. Anyway, he tried to negotiate, she refused to do anything and started behaving really oddly - sending religoius literature through the post and turning up at work. We then heard nothing and the thing for the decree nisis turned up, which he sent back. On the day it was due to be pronounced we got notification extension to file an answer, then answer went in with intent to defend. This is where we are now. She won't go back to her solicitor to discuss any other options. We've suggested that she cross-petitions, but she is refusing to on the basis that he left, so he should pay.

I'm upset because she wants to cross petition on the basis of adultery before they split, which wasn't the reason he left! Hence her basis for defending is incorrect anyway. We can't prove her allegations are untrue, but then again, she can't prove them either. She told him wants her day in court because she believes that he owes her something (she has a low-paid job and has already maxed his credit cards on Gucci, he has just finished Uni) and should support her for life in the style that she wants. She said the judge was understanding when she went to file for her extension so she will get what she wants. Neither her or him can afford court action. It's really getting me down. Last week she even handed him a copy of a prescription for anti-depressents (for a couple of weeks after the split) saying that he's ruined her life and he sould be prepared to pay. I'm not making light of her suffering but I get depressed to the point of doing stupid things and I say nothing, let alone use it as a device to hurt other people. I don't know what to do nor how to get round it. She won't see her solicitor (as she can't get legal aid any more) so it's all ground to a halt. She's admitted on paper that the marriage has failed, which is one good thing. So we're stuck. I just want an end to it all, then never to see her again, but I think I'm asking too much. I don't understand the fight. There is nothing to fight for. Sorry for the long reply. cel x

celyn90

star74 wrote: »

So are you listed for a hearing?
If so and while it'll be a while to wait, just bide your time. She won't have a leg to stand on when it comes to a hearing. The fact that they've been separated alone should be sufficient to let this go through.

Thanks so much for your reply, the reassurance means a lot. No we're not listed yet I think - we haven't heard anything from the court since her answer went in.

Asking_2

I left my husband 6 months ago. It is an amicable split and we now want to divorce as cheaply/quickly as possible. I've bought a flat of my own and my husband still lives in our marital home. We know what we want to do in the way of splitting our assets, but we're not sure how to go further in the way of getting divorced as cheaply and quickly as possible for us both to be able to move on in our lives. You mention getting divorce papers from the court - where do I find these on-line to download if possible?
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

mookiandco

Divorce Petition and info from the courts here:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do?court_forms_id=1115