What is included in the fee?
- We will obtain the information we need from you to prepare the papers for your case, either by face to face meeting, by telephone or by e-mail/letter.
- We send you a form called a petition which we will assist you in completing and then send to the court office.
- The court papers are then issued and sent to your spouse by the court.
- The other party should then fill in a receipt confirming whether they agree or do not agree to the divorce being granted. This is copied to you.
- We then prepare a document called a Request for Directions for Trial which will need to be supported by a statement which we will also prepare and send to you.
- We will submit the paperwork and the Request for Directions for Trial to the court to progress your case.
- The District Judge will check the paperwork to establish that you have properly completed your application to divorce/dissolution. If it is the case that they are satisfied with the procedure, they will then provide a date when the divorce/dissolution will be progressed through to it’s next stage, namely Decree Nisi/conditional order.
- Six weeks after pronouncement of Decree Nisi/conditional order (unless advised otherwise) we will make an application to finalise the divorce/dissolution on your behalf to end the marriage/civil partnership.
Throughout this, we will tell you when any of the above steps have been taken. We have provided for one and a half hours of discussion with you by telephone, email or in person. In the vast majority of cases this is more than sufficient to deal with all of the issues arising in relation to your divorce/dissolution. We also include up to two hours work to deal with any queries arising from the court. Judges who are not used to dealing with expat cases can sometimes need further time to consider complex law that may apply which may necessitate detailed questioning and replies. We are used to helping them in this regard.
In most cases the above follows through without difficulty. In some cases there are difficulties and we do charge extra for any additional work. For example, difficulties could include not being able to arrange service upon the other party or that of the party denying receipt of the papers, whereby we might then need to obtain a process server and so on. Any additional costs will be advised to you but would only be incurred on the basis of our receiving instructions to proceed.
The divorce fixed fee does not include acting for you in relation to financial or children related issues arising from divorce or a contested divorce for we charge extra at an hourly rate. We can provide an estimate for the cost of additional legal work to your divorce. If you get divorced you should up date your Will.
