https://insidehmcts.blog.gov.uk/divorce-step-by-step-your-essential-guide-podcast-transcript/
Divorce Step by Step: Your Essential Guide - podcast transcript
Sian: Hello and welcome to Inside HMCTS, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the courts and tribunal service in England and Wales. In this episode, we're focussing on one of our most widely used services, divorce. What the service is, how it works and how HMCTS supports people through what can be a really challenging time. We'll be sharing practical hints and tips to help you through the process.
I'm Sian and I'm part of the HMCTS Communications team. Joining me are Kimberley, a Deputy Service Manager for the divorce service team, and Sarah, a CTSC Team Leader for divorce. They'll guide us through the process, common mistakes to avoid and what support is available if you need help. So, if you or someone you know is considering divorce, this episode is packed with useful advice to make the journey a little smoother. Kimberley, let's start with you. For anyone whose not familiar with HMCTS, can you tell us a bit about your role and what you do.
Kimberly: I'm Kim, I am the Deputy Service Manager for divorce and financial remedy. We're responsible for the enhancements and making the system better and easier for both citizens, solicitors and caseworkers at the court.
Sarah: I'm Sarah. I'm currently a Team Leader and I've been a Team Leader for 12 months.
Sian: So, let's start with the basics. If someone's thinking about applying for divorce, where should they start? What are the essentials they need to start that process?
Kimberly: So, they need to have been married for one year and one day, you need your marriage certificate. It needs to be a colour copy of your marriage certificate, if it's in colour. We need to see all four corners of the marriage certificate when you're uploading it or taking a photo of it for the upload. If it's a foreign marriage certificate, we need the translation of that marriage certificate as well as the original marriage certificate. The translation must have been signed and dated, by the actual translator themselves, and not the company that they work for. You must know your partner's name in full, including middle names, no shortening versions of any names. We need the full legal name of both the applicant, respondent and applicant too and the address of both parties on the divorce and e-mail address if you've got it, because that will speed up the process because they'll be served via e-mail rather than via post, post takes longer, but you'll get e-mail and post if you pop your e-mail address in there. And if you've done any deed poll changes to your name, you need your deed poll. If there's any marriage certificate discrepancies, so discrepancy between the spelling of what your actual name is and what's on your marriage certificate, you'll need your passport or drivers licence.
Sian: And what's the very first step in the process? Can people literally Google I want a divorce. Where's that going to take them?
Kimberly: So they can Google to get a divorce but then you will see the GOV.UK login screen where you can get to our landing page on GOV.UK and obviously then that's free to use for yourself to go through. When you're on GOV.UK it lays out the entire process of a divorce. So from the start to the end. Applications are saved for six months so they can come and go, or if it is that they haven't got the answer to the question that they're asked or they're not quite sure they can come away and leave that. We also have the functionality to if they can't upload something at that point, they can indicate that they can't do that, and then we give them instruction on how they can actually provide that at another time by post or e-mail. So, it is really straightforward. It's very minimal information that we require now under the new divorce law.
Sian: Yeah. So when people are going through this process, what are they referring to themselves as? What are the names of the parties when they're going through the process?
Kimberley: So with the new law divorce, you can do a sole application or a joint application. For a sole application, you have an applicant who is the person that actually makes the application for the divorce, makes the payment for the divorce and is the one that puts the respondent's information down so as the court can contact them for a response to the divorce. The respondent is the applicant's partner, husband, civil partner, and they are the responsible for doing an acknowledgement of service, which is where they will agree or dispute the divorce application. In a joint application, both parties have to do the application together and it will be applicant one who is the lead applicant. So they are the one that will start the application off and they will be the one responsible for the payment of the application. They will indicate who applicant two is so they can then be contacted for applicant two to complete their part of the application. And they will be known as applicant two or the second applicant on the joint application. They will then fill in their bit and send that back to applicant one for them to complete the submission of the application. The application will then be reviewed by the court and then issued and you will receive a notice of proceedings, which is to confirm that the application has been issued and a copy of your divorce application, which is known as a D8 application. It then goes into a 20 week holding period if it is a joint application. If it is a sole application, it goes to awaiting the acknowledgement of service, which they have 14 days to respond. We then have the conditional order in the application, which is the middle part of the application. The conditional order was used to be known as the Decree-Nisi and old law has been changed to the conditional order. And the conditional order is the agreement that the court agrees that you are eligible to receive a divorce or a separation order if it's judicial separation or if it's a civil partnership agreement. Then you will have a six week and one day wait and then you can apply for the final order which used to be known as the decree absolute and this is what will end your divorce and mean that you are finalised and officially divorced.
Sian: And do people need to have anything agreed with their ex-partner first? I know we spoke about being able to do it singly or jointly.
Kimberley: Only if it's joint it's advisable that they're both aware that it's happening and at the same time and ideally be in contact with one another. So, as you can say, filled out my bit and sent it to you because that saves the hold up. They've only got 14 days between time frames. Before we'll be sending something up to say what you need to. Are you carrying on as a joint? Do you want to go sole etc, rather than leaving things open for a very long period of time. So, with that, it's best that they are in contact. They've both agreed they both know it's happening. But other than that, there doesn't need to be any pre-agreement between them because for a sole application quite often the respondent won't know it's happening until they're actually saved the paperwork. The only other thing I would say is it’s good to actually research before you do your divorce application is to have a look into financial remedy.
Sian: Can you tell me what financial remedy is?
Kimberley: Yes. So financial remedy is where you will apply to the court to help you to deal with your finances at the end of your divorce. So, what we call as a consent used to be a clean break order so, what your finances will be, what your pension will be, potential housing, etc and you basically want the court to sign and seal that order. So as say for instance, if you've got divorced and one party won the lottery, you've got that consent order that says, right? We're split. This is our agreement. You can't come after me for any lottery win further down the line. A contested financial application is where both parties can't come to any agreement. Whether they've tried mediation, they just can't get there and they need a judge to actually assist them in getting that fairly shared out.
Sian: So, we've talked about the online process, but what about if someone prefers paper, can they still do that? How does how does that process work and where do they get the forms?
Kimberley: All forms are available on GOV.UK they're all available for download. They'll fill out all the paperwork, which the questions and the way it's laid out is exactly the same as the digital, then you'd send it to our PO Box address that we've got this on the form, indicate how you want to pay, which we accept cheque, postal order and over the phone card payments.
Sian: And if someone doesn't have one of the documents they need, for example the marriage certificate, what should they do?
Kimberley: If it's England and Wales, they can get a copy of the marriage certificate from the registrar. There's a fee involved in that it's an overseas divorce you can obviously copy go to your Foreign Office.
Sian: And are there any myths or misconceptions about the divorce process that you'd like to clear up?
Sarah: I think one of the big ones is people saying, oh, I've been separated from five years, 10 years, it's fine. It'll just go through. It's not the case. We had a need. A signature from the other party or what we always say is there's different applications people can make to progress the divorce without having a signature, however, we need to be happy, the judge needs to be happy that you have done everything to make that person aware of the divorce, even if it's still not responding, so it's a longer procedure, but it can happen.
Kimberly: I think another common misconception with the no fault divorce is that they think that we're just putting the 20 weeks on there. Just to add time, and we genuinely aren't. You don't need to tell us why you are getting divorce, it's no fault divorce, but because now the only criteria is that you've got to have been married for one year and one day before you can apply, it's that cooling off period to give people that chance to just reflect, make sure it's what they want and also to give them that time as well to get their finances in order to look at the likelihood of finance, because otherwise they'd be getting their application and then the final order within like a couple of weeks if we didn't have that cooling off period. We want you to have that time and not feel pressured and to doing it, so that's where that 20 weeks has come from and that's why I like your typical divorce will be 37 plus weeks now to get from end to end.
Sarah: I think as well touching on the finances, we do get the misunderstanding that when they tick the financial question on the divorce, that means all the finances in the divorce, that's all going to be all done together. When they get to sort of conditional order, final order, then they're like, well, it's all sorted, but actually, it is a separate application, also ever doing when they take yes on the divorce for financial audit is showing an intention, so they're showing the other part in intention that I intend to apply for financial audit, but it's just need to be aware that it is separate and that's something you need to get in order.
Sian: So, you mentioned some time scales there. How long can people expect for the process to take from start to finish and where does the 20 weeks fit into that?
Kimberly: So, when it first comes in, you've got the issuing of the application. We usually give a month's time scale for the application to be reviewed and issued. Usually, it's done in a lot less time than that. The 20 weeks actually starts at the point of the case being issued. So once the case has actually been issued by the court and you're notice of proceedings comes out and all the documentation comes out to confirm it's been issued the actual 20 weeks starts from that date, once the 20 weeks has gone, provided it's happy days and you're working with the joint application. You know you've got your acknowledgement to service back once the 20 weeks is off. We get to what's known as the conditional order stage. This is where they'll apply for the conditional order to actually begin that divorce process for the legal team to have a look at. So then the legal advisors get involved to look at that application. We usually put 6 to 8 weeks for that, that's for the legal advisors to look at the application and then for us to actually list the hearing, the hearing isn't one that needs to be attended by either party. And if you do want to attend, you do need to let the court know and what happens is they get a list of a lot of people's cases on that one day that they'll lend review and just the sign off to say they're happy to grant this conditional order. Once the conditional orders granted, it's then 6 weeks and 1 day and then they can apply for the final order and that's the end of the divorce process there.
Sian: And the financial order part of this is that within that 37 weeks.
Kimberley: Yes. So they can't make an application for a consented financial remedy until they've got a conditional order, which is why we say that 20 weeks you can be working on that. So as once your conditional orders granted, you can straight away apply them for your consent order. The conditional order is where the court does not see any reason why you cannot divorce or separate or get a dissolution. And that's what we mean by a conditional order. This is the court saying we can't see a reason why you are unable to go ahead with this process and get divorced and the final order is the final decree of the divorce. So the final order is your final decree. It used to be called a decree absolute. It's now called final order and no-fault divorce, and that is just us saying this is your last decree to say that you are your divorce is finalised and you are now actually a divorced member and we also do put on there and I think it's key to me mention this. Please don't lose it. Please keep it safe. It is a legal document. You will need to pay for a copy and you will need to provide that if you're getting married again, they need it as a registrar you may need to provide it if you go to probate, you may need to provide it. If you go into any wills or anything like that to your bank. If you change your name for your deed poll, etc. So, it's really key to keep that document safe.
Sian: If someone needs help with their application, what should they do?
Kimberley: So we have a digital support team that can assist you with filling in your application digitally. They can assist you with what the question might mean what you need to do, how you go about uploading? I know that is one of the common things people struggle with is, how do I actually upload something? How do I get it from my phone to an uploaded document? I'm not sure how to do it. How do I take a photo and then upload it? How does it save? Where does it save? So that's what they're there for and they can be available over the phone, they can also be made available to you face to face if you book an appointment, and they can just help you through that process. It's also helpful for people that may need to potentially have an interpreter presence with you. You might want to have like a three-way conversation with an interpreter and these members of staff.
Sarah: But our service team here are really, really good, we've got massive amount of experience. I know we're not legally trained. However, between all the agents and the team leaders and all the service staff, we have a lot of knowledge so we can help, but we can only just say we can never tell you exactly what to do. But we can tell you everything regarding the processes, and I think reading the guidance at the beginning as well, there's a lot of information on there that tells about the process, timelines, things like that. So yeah, and check things as you go on.
Sian: So once someone's applied, what happens next? Can people check how their application is progressing once they've submitted it?
Kimberley: Yes, so through every stage of the divorce, we will let them know via notification. If they've replied by a paper, they'll get that via a letter. If they've applied digitally, they'll get an e-mail that will indicate we've got something for you to look at or it's time that you can apply for XY and Z and they can then log in and review that. The hub page has a handy tick bar at the top that shows you which part of the application you're actually up to. All contact numbers are all on there as well. The web chat, everything e-mail, web form, it's all there on that hub page, so the contact information is there.
Sian: Have you come across any unusual situations in your work, like people changing their mind, for example?
Sarah: All the time. Some of them it can. I think sometimes it can be over the weekend, they've had enough. They've applied and Monday morning they ring panicky. No, we didn't meet. Do eat. I was just having an argument, but yeah we do have a lot.
Sian: How much does it cost to get a divorce?
Sarah: £612 is the full cost, people can apply for help with fees if they're on low income or benefits.
Sian: Great. So finally looking to the future, what is next for the divorce service in 2026, what changes a plan to make things easier for the public?
Kimberley: There's a lot upcoming for 2026 that'll just make life easier is from a digital perspective for the digital users, and then we'll then start to work on what can we do for the paper users to make it easy for them as well.
Sian: That's all for this episode of Inside HMCTS. A big thank you to Kimberley and Sarah for sharing their expertise and insights. If you'd like more information or want to start your application, visit GOV.UK and search for divorce. You'll also find details of our digital support service if you need extra help. Don't forget to check out our previous episodes and please share this podcast with anyone who might find it useful. Thanks for listening. See you soon on the next episode of Inside HMCTS.
