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To commence divorce proceedings you have to complete a divorce petition.
The party who issues the divorce petition is referred to as a “Petitioner”; the party who receives the petition is referred to as a “Respondent”.
In order to commence divorce proceedings, you must satisfy the following criteria:
1. You and your spouse must be married for more than one year immediately before a divorce petition is presented to Court.
2. One of the following must apply in relation to you and/or your spouse:
i) You are both habitually resident in England and Wales;
ii) You were both last habitually resident in England and Wales and either you or your spouse still resides there;
- Your spouse is habitually resident in England and Wales;
- You are habitually resident in England and Wales and have resided there for at least one year immediately before the divorce petition is presented to the Court;
- You are domiciled and habitually resident in England and Wales and have resided there for at least 6 months immediately before the presentation of the petition to the Court;
- You are both domiciled in England and Wales.
Once you have established that you are in a position where you are able to present a divorce petition, you need to confirm that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. You do this by basing your divorce petition on one of the following facts: -
- Your spouse has committed adultery and you find it intolerable to live with them; [ADULTERY]
- Your spouse has behaved in such a way that you cannot reasonably be expected to live with them; [UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOUR]
- Your spouse has deserted you for a continuous period of at least two years immediately before you have sent a petition to the Court (this fact is rarely used as it is often difficult to proceed with) [DESERTION]
- You have both lived apart for a continuous period of at least two years before you present your petition to the Court and your spouse consents to a divorce proceeding on this basis.[2 YRS SEPARATION]
- You have lived apart from your spouse for a continuous period of five years before you present the petition to Court, you do not need their consent to proceed.[5 YRS SEPARATION]
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