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Where the parties are in dispute about at least one of the main issues, it is not possible to follow the simple procedure of an unopposed divorce.

 

Each party will need to appoint an attorney to represent them. The process is as follows, though many variations are possible.

 

1. The process usually commences with the one party (“the Plaintiff”) issuing a summons against the other (“the Defendant”).  The summons sets out all the Plaintiff’s claims – i.e. who gets what property, who gets custody of the children, how much maintenance is to be paid etc.  However, often the parties will start negotiating with each other through their attorneys even before a summons is issued.

 

2. The Defendant then replies to the Plaintiff’s summons in a document called “the Plea”, setting out his or her counterclaims.

 

3. The two attorneys will often continue to negotiate whilst simultaneously involved in the process of pleading and sending each other various court processes.

 

4. If at any stage the parties reach a settlement, the agreement will be reduced to writing, signed and set down for a court hearing in the same way as an unopposed divorce.

 

5. Where however the parties cannot settle their differences through negotiations, the process of litigation will continue, involving various stages, until finally, the matter comes to court.  This process takes at least a year.

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