What is the court process involved in getting a divorce?
The person who asks for the divorce is called the ‘petitioner’. Using one of the five ‘grounds for divorce’ the petitioner will apply to the court and also send in the ‘statement of arrangement for the children’. Assuming that the person who is being divorced (known as the respondent) agrees to the divorce and the court is satisfied that the marriage has ‘irretrievably broken down’ the district judge will grant a ‘decree nisi’. The petitioner then has to wait six weeks and one day before applying for a ‘decree absolute’ which finally means the parties are divorced from each other.
