Help! Decree nisi issues

V2001

I was briefly married for 3 months and we separated. No kids, no joint accounts and the house was already bought by myself before marriage. She contributed nothing either.

I applied for a annulment in may 2021. The decree nisi was granted in September 2021. However it hasn't been pronounced after all this time so I can't move ahead and do the absolute to make it final.

The court is saying it hasn't been pronounced perhaps due to a error and have been unable to escalate it so its just sitting in limbo after all these months. When the nisi was granted in sep 21 , they didn't do the paperwork and file it on the system so it hasn't gone anywhere.

What can I do its now Dec 21? I made a official complaint but still nothing has gone anywhere. Every1 I talk to on the phone says sorry for the error but no one seems to be able to do anything. Surely when the nisi was granted it should have been pronounced so 6 weeks later I could have made it absolute?

Savvy_Sue

I am no expert, but ... an annulment and a divorce are two different things, surely? An annulment says "this marriage never actually took place / this wasn't a valid marriage / treat these people as if they were never married", whereas a divorce says "these people were married but aren't any longer" - at least once you have the absolute. 

So I'm just wondering if the error is confusion over whether this is an annulment or a divorce? 

Do you have a solicitor? It may be time to engage one ... 

V2001

I do have a solicitor acting for me. But issue is with courts. Annulment are similar to divorce in many ways as u still have a decree nisi and absolute. Just the grounds are different. The issue I'm having is with the decree nisi being pronounced even tho they say it has been granted.

lincroft1710

I think it would be easier if you let your solicitor sort this one. 

TBagpuss

Your solicitor may need to ask the court to formally list for directions, to get an actual judge to look at it - a problem is that most of the process is normally done administratively , so if there has been an issue, the people doing the admin may not be clear now to correct it. Worst case scenario the Judge should b able to formally pronounce the DN so you can apply for the absolute in another 6 weeks.

It may also be that if it is being dealt with on paper that because everything is now funneled through Bury St Edmunds, they are very buy so tend to be pretty slow

V2001

TBagpuss said:

Your solicitor may need to ask the court to formally list for directions, to get an actual judge to look at it - a problem is that most of the process is normally done administratively , so if there has been an issue, the people doing the admin may not be clear now to correct it. Worst case scenario the Judge should b able to formally pronounce the DN so you can apply for the absolute in another 6 weeks.

It may also be that if it is being dealt with on paper that because everything is now funneled through Bury St Edmunds, they are very buy so tend to be pretty slow

It is being dealt with by burys St edmunds. They are a nightmare, I have put in a few complaints to escalate the matter. Last I been told the file has been referred to a judge for further directions. This was back in November. Is that what u mean?

V2001

After making a complaint, below was the response I received. Should I be worried? Or anything further i can do to escalate matters...

Application for a Decree Nisi

I'm sorry for the delay in the outcome of your Decree Nisi application. The applicaton was referred to the Legal Advisor for consideraton on the 17 August 2021. Although the file came back from the Legal Advisor on the 8th September 2021 no Order was drawn at that time. I'm sorry until an actual Order is typed up, we shouldn't have advised you that it had been granted. I've spoken to the relevant managers to inform staff of this.

Your case now

The Decree Nisi is yet to be issued. The file had to be referred to a judge for further directions, this was done on the 12 November 2021, and we are currently awaiting the outcome from the judge. I'm sorry as I don't have acces to the case file, I'm unable to provide you with more detailed information as to why it had to be referred on to a judge.

V2001

Bump bump. Any advice on anyway I can get things moved along?

elsien

Until it’s been in front of a judge, I’m not sure there is anything else you can do. They clearly have the paperwork, it’s just sitting in a pile along with everyone else’s. 

You could contact them again to see if there are any rough timescales for the judge to look at it? 

V2001

After a call today i was told that it had been granted on 22nd Dec. I take it now I have to wait for a pronouncement date?