Divorce process

How do I get divorced in England?

You must have been married or in a civil partnership for at least one year to apply for a divorce/end to your civil partnership in England.

The divorce process now takes place online via the gov.uk website (in the case of a marriage, the relevant link is Get a divorce; and in the case of a civil partnership it is End a civil partnership). A divorce application can be made by one spouse (a sole application), or by both spouses together (a joint application). You can make your application with or without the help of a solicitor. You (or your solicitor on your behalf) will have to answer various questions via the website, including about your connections to England (see 'Can I get divorced in England?')). You will also need to upload a copy of your marriage certificate and pay a court fee (currently £593).

In the case of a sole application, the spouse against whom the divorce application is made (or both spouses in the case of a joint application) should 'acknowledge' receipt of it within 14 days of receiving it. This is again usually done online.

The divorce itself is then granted by the court in two stages in response to two further applications. Twenty weeks after the court processes your divorce application (which is a minimum waiting period to allow time for reflection), you can apply for a 'conditional order'. This confirms to the court that you still wish to move ahead with the divorce process, and that nothing in your initial application has changed. The conditional order confirms that you are entitled to a divorce under English law.

Six weeks after the conditional order was granted (another minimum waiting period), you can apply for a 'final order'. When this is granted then you are legally divorced.

The whole process for divorce takes a minimum of 26 weeks but usually longer, often because there are also financial issues to be resolved. If this is the case, you would normally progress the divorce proceedings at least as far as obtaining a conditional order, which has the additional function of giving the court the power to make orders in any separate financial proceedings. You may then decide to pause the divorce process and only apply for the final divorce order after the financial issues have been resolved and recorded in a final financial order. The reason for this is to avoid unintended outcomes if one of the parties was to die after a final divorce order, but before a final financial order.

If you change your mind about getting divorced, and your application to divorce or end your civil partnership has not already been served (i.e., formally sent) to your spouse, then you can withdraw it. If your spouse has already received it, then you can still withdraw it as long as your spouse agrees.

There is very rarely any need to attend court (though any proceedings to deal with the financial consequences of divorce and any children proceedings will be separate). Similarly, you do not need to communicate directly with your spouse in order to divorce as the process can be done entirely online, and also with the assistance of lawyers if you wish. It will, however, be necessary to communicate (again through lawyers if you wish) in any separate financial or children proceedings.