Divorce Solicitors

Divorce Solicitors FAQS

Below, we have answered some frequently asked questions concerning divorce solicitors

• How long does a divorce take, and is it quicker if we agree on everything?

  Around six months at minimum, even when everything is agreed. The process contains two statutory waiting periods: at least 20 weeks between the application and the Conditional Order, then a further six weeks and one day before you can apply for the Final Order. Those cannot be shortened. What varies is the financial side. Where finances are straightforward or already agreed, the two run in parallel and the whole matter finishes in roughly six to nine months. Where finances are contested and court proceedings are issued, it commonly takes 12 to 18 months from start to finish, because the court timetable, not the divorce itself, sets the pace. We also frequently advise clients to delay applying for the Final Order until the finances are resolved, which can extend the timeline deliberately and for good reason.

• Do I still need grounds or a reason to get divorced?

  No. Since 6 April 2022, divorce in England and Wales has been no-fault. You simply confirm that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, and you do not have to prove anything about your spouse’s conduct. The old five facts, adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, two years’ separation with consent and five years’ separation, were abolished entirely. You can apply on your own as a sole applicant or jointly with your spouse. One point often misunderstood: although conduct no longer has any role in obtaining the divorce, it can still occasionally be relevant to the financial settlement, but only where it is so serious that it would be inequitable for the court to disregard it. That is a high bar and rarely met in practice.

• Can my husband or wife refuse to agree to the divorce and stop it going ahead?

  Not in any way that stops it. Since April 2022, a statement of irretrievable breakdown cannot be disputed, so there is no longer such a thing as a defended divorce on the merits. A respondent can only challenge the application on narrow legal grounds: that the court lacks jurisdiction, that the marriage was never legally valid, or that the application is procedurally defective or fraudulent. This was a deliberate change. Under the old law it was possible to contest a divorce outright, as in the Supreme Court case of Owens v Owens in 2018, where a wife was refused a divorce and had to remain married. That case was a significant driver of the reform. If a spouse simply ignores the paperwork, the court can still proceed, using deemed or alternative service where necessary.

• What is the difference between a Conditional Order and a Final Order, and why does it matter?

  A Conditional Order is the court confirming it sees no reason why you cannot divorce. A Final Order legally ends the marriage. They replaced decree nisi and decree absolute in April 2022. The distinction matters for more than terminology. The Conditional Order is the gateway for your finances: the court cannot approve a financial consent order until it has been made, so in practice it is the point at which a negotiated settlement can be formalised. You must then wait six weeks and one day before applying for the Final Order. If the applicant leaves it more than 12 months after the Conditional Order without applying, the court will usually require an explanation for the delay before granting the Final Order.

  There is no legal requirement for you to appoint a solicitor to handle your divorce. However, people who attempt to conduct their own divorces without the support and advice of a solicitor are often not aware of the issues it will present in the future, if not properly dealt with.

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• Should I wait until our finances are sorted before applying for the Final Order?

  In most cases, yes, until your financial settlement is finalised and sealed by the court. Ending the marriage changes your legal status in ways that can be financially serious. If your spouse dies after the Final Order but before a financial order is in place, you may lose widow’s or widower’s pension benefits and death-in-service entitlements that would have been payable to a spouse. Your inheritance position also changes: a former spouse loses their automatic entitlement under the intestacy rules, and gifts left to a former spouse in an existing will generally lapse on divorce. This is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes people make when divorcing without advice, because the Final Order feels like the finish line when the finances are actually the substantive part.

• Do I need a solicitor to get divorced if we already agree on everything?

  Not legally, and the divorce application itself is genuinely straightforward to complete online. The risk lies almost entirely on the financial side. If you divorce without obtaining a financial consent order, your financial claims against each other remain open indefinitely. The Supreme Court confirmed this in Wyatt v Vince in 2015, where a former wife was permitted to bring a financial claim decades after the marriage had ended, by which point her former husband had built a substantial business. A consent order is what closes that door permanently. A solicitor also adds most value where pensions, business assets or tax are involved, because those are the areas where an apparently even split can turn out to be nothing of the kind.

• What am I entitled to in a divorce settlement, and is everything split 50/50?

  There is no fixed formula and no automatic 50/50 split. The court works through the factors in section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973: the length of the marriage, each person’s income, earning capacity and financial needs, the standard of living during the marriage, contributions made including non-financial ones such as childcare, and each person’s age and health. The welfare of any child under 18 is the court’s first consideration. Equal sharing is the usual starting point for assets built up during the marriage, but it is only a starting point, and needs can justify a departure from it, often in favour of the person with primary care of children. Assets brought into the marriage or inherited may be treated differently, though not always, particularly where they have been mixed with joint finances or where needs cannot otherwise be met.

• What happens to my pension in a divorce, and can my ex claim part of it?

  Pensions are matrimonial assets and are frequently the second most valuable one after the family home, yet they are the most commonly overlooked. There are three main routes. A pension sharing order transfers a percentage of one pension into a fund in the other person’s name, which is usually the cleanest option because it allows a clean break. Offsetting trades pension value against other assets, such as a larger share of the house. Attachment, sometimes called earmarking, redirects part of the pension when it is eventually paid, and is now rarely used. A significant practical point: the cash equivalent transfer value quoted by a scheme can substantially understate the real worth of a defined benefit or public sector pension, which is why a report from a pensions on divorce expert is often needed before any agreement is reached. A pension sharing order only takes effect once the Final Order has been made and the scheme has implemented it.

• What happens to our house when we divorce, and can I stay there with the children?

  It depends on what each of you needs and what is actually affordable, not on who is named on the title deeds. The usual options are selling and dividing the proceeds, one of you buying the other out, or transferring the property to one person with the other receiving a larger share of different assets in exchange. Where there are dependent children, the court can also make a Mesher order, which defers the sale until a defined trigger such as the youngest child finishing full-time education. Children’s housing needs carry significant weight in this analysis. In practice, mortgage capacity is often the real constraint rather than the law: a buy-out only works if the remaining owner can borrow enough and satisfy the lender on affordability, which is worth establishing early rather than after an agreement has been reached in principle.

• Can I claim spousal maintenance, and how long would it last?

  Possibly, where one of you cannot meet your reasonable needs from your own resources and the other has the means to contribute. The court looks at both financial positions, earning capacities and the length of the marriage. Orders for joint lives are now uncommon. Courts generally prefer a term order for a defined period, with an expectation that the receiving party will move towards financial independence, particularly after shorter marriages or where children are approaching school age. Where there are sufficient capital assets, maintenance can be capitalised into a lump sum instead, achieving a clean break. Spousal maintenance can be varied or discharged if circumstances change materially, and it ends automatically on the remarriage of the receiving party. It is entirely separate from child maintenance, which is usually calculated through the Child Maintenance Service rather than the court.

• Do I need to go to court for my divorce, and what happens if we cannot agree?

  Most divorcing couples never attend a court hearing. The divorce application itself is an administrative online process with no hearing at all, and a financial consent order is approved by a judge on paper without either of you needing to attend. Court only becomes relevant if you cannot agree on finances or arrangements for children. Even then, you will usually be required to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting before you can apply to the court, unless an exemption applies, for example in cases involving domestic abuse or genuine urgency. If financial proceedings are issued, they follow three stages: a First Appointment where the judge sets directions, a Financial Dispute Resolution hearing where a judge gives an indication of the likely outcome to help you settle, and only if that fails, a Final Hearing where a judge decides. Many cases settle at or before the Financial Dispute Resolution stage. Since April 2024, the Family Procedure Rules also require both parties to set out their views on using non-court dispute resolution, and the court can take an unreasonable refusal to engage into account when deciding who pays the costs.

• What happens to arrangements for our children, and will a court decide?

  Most separating parents agree arrangements between themselves, sometimes with help from mediation, and never need a court order. The law actively encourages this: under section 1(5) of the Children Act 1989, the court will not make an order at all unless doing so is better for the child than making no order. Where agreement genuinely is not possible, the court can make a Child Arrangements Order, which sets out where a child lives and how much time they spend with each parent. These replaced the old residence and contact orders in 2014. The child’s welfare is the court’s paramount consideration, assessed against a statutory welfare checklist covering their wishes and feelings in light of their age and understanding, their physical and emotional needs, and any risk of harm. You will usually need to attend a Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting before applying, and Cafcass will carry out safeguarding checks and may be asked to report to the court.