Divorce Papers

Few phrases carry as much weight as ‘divorce papers’. Whether you are preparing to begin the process yourself or you have just been told that an application has been made by your spouse, the supportive and experienced team at Birch & Co are on hand to help and support you through the process.

Reach out to Birch & Co’s specialist and supportive team today. Call us on 0191 284 5030 or complete a Free Online Enquiry now to get a bespoke fixed price estimate.

“Not in any way intimidating. Their positive attitude takes the stress out of situations.” (Ms Scott)

How Does The Process Start?

Everything starts with an application to the court. This can be made by one spouse on their own, or by both together as a joint application, and it does no more than confirm that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. No reasons need to be given, and nobody has to accuse the other of anything.

The application asks for basic information, including details of the marriage, the addresses of both parties, and whether there are any children of the family. Your original marriage certificate, or a certified copy, must be provided alongside it, and where the marriage took place abroad and the certificate is not in English, a translation will be needed. Once the application has been issued by the court, the process moves to its next stage, which depends on whether you applied together or one of you applied alone.

What Should You Do If The Application Has Been Made Against You?

Where your spouse has applied on their own, the court will send you a copy of the application together with a short form asking you to confirm that you have received it. Returning that form promptly matters, because it allows everything that follows to proceed. Acknowledging the papers confirms only that they reached you. It is not an agreement to any financial position, and it is not acceptance of any arrangement concerning the children.

People sometimes hold the form back in the belief that this will pause matters or strengthen their hand later. In practice it achieves neither, and it can add cost when the court has to be satisfied that the papers were properly delivered. If an application has arrived and you are unsure how to respond, please get in touch with our team and we will advise you.

How Is The Marriage Brought To An End?

Assuming the application proceeds, the marriage is then brought to an end in two distinct steps rather than one. The first is the conditional order, which is the court confirming that you are entitled to a divorce. This cannot be applied for until twenty weeks have passed since the application was issued, a period intended to give both parties time to reflect and to begin dealing with the practical questions between them.

The second step is the final order, which is what actually ends the marriage, and it can be applied for six weeks and a day after the conditional order is made. The gap between the two is more than a formality, and it is here that advice becomes genuinely important. Applying for the final order before your financial arrangements are settled can have serious consequences, because certain rights connected to the marriage, particularly around pensions and what happens if one party dies, can be lost once the marriage is legally over. For that reason, the sensible course, in most cases, is to hold back the final order until the finances have been resolved.

What Happens To A Couple’s Assets?

It surprises a great many people to learn that the papers ending the marriage say nothing about how the couple’s assets should be split. Property, savings, pensions, debts, income, and business interests are handled through an entirely separate process, and unless a financial order is made, the financial claims that spouses have against one another can remain open long after the divorce itself is finalised.

Resolving the finances relies on full and honest disclosure from both sides. In practice, you will need to gather bank statements, mortgage details, property valuations, pension statements, payslips and, where someone is self-employed or owns a business, accounts. It is worth starting to collect these early, because obtaining pension information in particular tends to take longer than people expect. Once an agreement is reached, it is written up as a consent order and submitted to the court for approval, and it is that approval which makes the arrangement binding.

How Can Birch & Co Help?

At Birch & Co we prepare and submit the divorce papers and other documents on your behalf, keep track of every deadline, and deal with the court correspondence so that you are not left trying to interpret anything yourself. We tell you at the outset exactly which documents we need from you, and where financial matters are involved, we help you work through the disclosure in an orderly way.

We provide a clear estimate at the beginning of every case, so that you know what the work will cost before it starts, and we keep the process moving without unnecessary delay.

Whether you are preparing to begin a divorce or you have received an application and want to understand what it means, our family law team can handle it for you from start to finish.