Online divorceWhere a divorce is proceeding via the online service note that while rules relating to divorce proceedings are generally to be found in...
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...
Applications for judicial separation are relatively rare in practice. It may arise where the client has strong religious and or cultural reasons for...
This Practice Note sets out the basic principles to be applied when drafting a financial consent order including the preparation and structure of the...
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...
The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) sets out the grounds on which a marriage is void or voidable and the bars preventing the grant of a decree...
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance has been issued, including by the President of the Family Division, regarding all proceedings in the Family Court in...
A decree of nullity granted after 31 July 1971 in respect of a voidable marriage operates to annul the marriage with effect from decree absolute and...
Initially, the application for a decree nisi to be made absolute can only be made by the spouse who obtained the decree nisi. The general approach is...
The procedure for making an application for a decree nisi is set out in Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, Pt 7. Where the case is...
Cross-decreesThere is one ground for a divorce, and that is that the marriage has broken down irretrievably. However, the court cannot make a finding...
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (M(SSC)A 2013) provides that the marriage of same-sex couples is lawful. M(SSC)A 2013, s 9 provides that the...
A divorce petition needs to satisfy the court of one or more of the following facts in order for the court to hold that the marriage has broken down...
A marriage may be annulled either on the ground that it is void, or that it is voidable. Section 11 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973) sets...
It is sometimes the case that a party in family proceedings will wish to keep their address confidential. This will often arise where there has been...
The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004) enables a person who has changed their gender to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC). If a GRC...
Judicial separation is an alternative form of separation to a divorce, whereby parties will be formally separated as sanctioned by the court, but they...
It is assumed that this Q&A is asking about personal service of a divorce petition, given the reference to the ‘petitioner’. In the first instance, a...
Dear [insert respondent’s name]Your [wife OR husband]’s divorce petition asking that your marriage be brought to an end has now been processed by the...