If you have been married for at least one year and your relationship has broken down, you can obtain a divorce, provided that you have a marriage legally recognised in the United Kingdom and you have a permanent home in either England or Wales.
In the United Kingdom, there is one ground for divorce, the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. This has to be proved by presenting a divorce petition based on one of 5 facts:-
1. Adultery
Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse between an individual who is married and someone who is not the individual’s spouse. In other words if your spouse has committed adultery with someone else whilst married to you, and it you find it intolerable to live with them, then you could bring a petition for divorce based on this fact. However, if your spouse is not prepared to admit the adultery, it may be very difficult to prove. You cannot rely on your spouse’s adultery if you have lived with them for more than 6 months after you found out about the adultery.
2. Unreasonable behaviour
Unreasonable behaviour by your spouse could include:
- physical violence
- refusing to pay for housekeeping
- verbal abuse
- drunkenness or drug-taking
3. Desertion
To be granted a divorce on grounds of desertion you would need to prove that your spouse has left you:-
- to end your relationship
- without your agreement
- for a period of longer than 2 years in the past 2½ years
- without good reason
Even if you have lived together for a total of 6 months during the desertion two-year period, you can still rely on the fact of desertion to present a petition for divorce.
4. Living apart for over 2 years
If you and your spouse have lived apart for longer than 2 years and you both agree to a divorce, you will be able to proceed. However, your spouse must agree to this in writing.
5. Living apart for over 5 years
Even if your spouse does not consent to a divorce, you should be able to get a divorce if you have lived apart for over 5 years.
There are three steps to take in order to get divorced. Firstly, you must file a petition for divorce based on one of the above 5 facts in order to prove that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. In the divorce petition, you will need to rely on one of the 5 facts and give further particulars of the fact relied on. After the divorce petition is filed, the Court will send it to your spouse who will need to complete an Acknowledgement of Service form. Once you able to show that your spouse has received the petition and is not intending to defend it, you are then able to apply for a Decree Nisi. The Court will list a date for the pronouncement of the Decree Nisi. After obtaining this, you can then apply for a Decree Absolute. There is a wait of 6 weeks and 1 day between receiving your Decree Nisi and applying for a Decree Absolute.
You may have the option to arrange for your own divorce, without the need for solicitors. This is possible provided that you agree on how you will look after any children, how you will divide money, possessions and property and if you concur over the reasons for the divorce. However, it is important to finalise financial matters by obtaining one final Court Order which will bring each of your financial claims against the other to an end. It is very often at this stage that you may need the assistance of a Solicitor.