The Divorce Application

Simply enough, this is the process by which your legal status is changed from married to divorced. It is a paper exercise which takes not less than 6 months in total and carries a standard Government fee. Following the introduction of ‘no fault divorce’ in England and Wales in April 2022, separating couples no longer specify reasons for their decision to end the marriage.

There are legal and often also financial and tax consequences that flow from that change of status, so it’s important, when approaching a divorce, not to look at the divorce application on its own, but also to consider your overall financial situation at the same time.

The first question, of course, is whether you want to get divorced. That is an intensely personal decision. The aim of this course is to give you a high level introduction as to what divorce entails from a legal perspective, so you can use that to help make a decision as to the best next steps for your family. Importantly, it’s worth bearing in mind that you cannot remarry unless you have first divorced.