International Divorce in England and Wales
Contrary to popular belief, expats who are living overseas can sometimes be eligible to divorce through the English courts, as long as certain criteria are met.
Here at Austin Kemp, our international divorce solicitors are experienced at conducting the divorce process for expats. There is usually no need to come back to England at any point in the divorce process, as normally, all elements can be handled remotely , enabling you to get on with your life abroad without the added stress and expense of coming back to the UK.
We are often asked by our clients if an expat divorce takes longer than a normal divorce. In most cases, the answer is no. The process is the same as the divorces we undertake for our clients who live in England.
How long a divorce takes usually depends on the complexity of your finances. Although the financial settlement is quite separate to the divorce process itself, it usually runs concurrently with it. We usually advise our clients that a divorce takes around 4 to 6 months, although for our high net worth clients, it can be substantially longer.
How to start international divorce proceedings
The person who starts the divorce proceedings is known as the petitioner, and the person responding to the proceedings is called the respondent.
It is the petitioner who files the petition at court in order to begin the international divorce proceedings. Your solicitor can also do this for you if you would prefer, or if it is inconvenient to get to an English court because you live abroad.
The petition gives information to the court about why you and your spouse are ending the marriage. In this petition, you must show that there has been an ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of your marriage in order to proceed with your international divorce.
You can do this by giving evidence in order to prove one of five things:
1) Unreasonable behaviour – You’ll need to show the court that your spouse has behaved so badly that you cannot bear to live with them any longer.
2) Adultery – In order to rely on adultery as grounds for irretrievable marriage breakdown, you will need to show that your spouse has had sex with another individual and that, because of this, you can’t bear to live with them any longer. You may be unable to use this ground for international divorce if you found out more than 6 months ago.
3) Separation for more than 2 years (with consent)
4) Separation for 5 years (without consent)
5) Desertion – Your spouse has deserted you (this will need to be for two years or more)
The International Divorce Process: What to Expect
The international divorce process itself is relatively simple, unless the respondent chooses to ‘defend’ the divorce. This is not very common but can make the process very complex. The standard international divorce process usually takes place over four stages: filing a petition for international divorce, serving the petition, documenting the decree nisi, and then officially ending the marriage with the decree absolute.
1. The Petition
In order to start the international divorce process, the petitioner will file the petition at court. You will need your marriage certificate (or an official copy of your marriage certificate) in order to file the international divorce petition.
It is normal practice for a copy of the international divorce petition to be sent to the respondent at least a week before taking it to court to file it, so the respondent has a chance to look through its contents and take legal advice on it.
However, this is not always possible, especially if speed is of the essence and there are questions surrounding jurisdiction.
If you are in any doubt about any element of the international divorce process, it is highly recommended to seek legal advice from experienced international divorce solicitors, such as Austin Kemp.
2. Serving the petition
The next step in the international divorce process is serving the petition. At this stage, the petition is sent to the respondent (this is usually done by the court, but not always). They will then need to fill in a form saying whether or not they are going to defend the divorce, before sending it back to the court.
Normally, this is all the respondent has to do when proceeding with the international divorce. Although, in regards to children and finances, there are usually more steps involved that are undertaken by the petitioner (unless the respondent wishes to defend the international divorce).
3. The Decree Nisi
A decree nisi is a document from the court that confirms you are able to end your marriage through a divorce. However, your international divorce is not final at this stage. As long as the court is happy with all of your papers, then the decree nisi will then be pronounced in court.
However, if your spouse doesn’t agree to the international divorce, then you may then need to go to court to argue your case where the judge will decide whether or not to grant a decree nisi.
You do not need to be there when the decree nisi is pronounced.
It is at any time after this point that you can ask the court to make a binding order regarding your financial settlement. Although separate from the international divorce process itself, this is a very important element. Ask us for more divorce advice and information about this.
Some couples can come to an agreement about what their financial settlement will look like between themselves or with the help of solicitor-to-solicitor negotiations, for example. But others cannot come to an agreement and have to ask the courts to decide their settlement. This can often be the case for high-net-worth individuals with complex international assets and investments. Find out more about our high net worth divorce and international divorce services.
4. The Decree Absolute
When the decree absolute is finalised, the marriage is officially brought to an end.
The petitioner must wait for at least 6 weeks and 1 day after the decree nisi is pronounced, before applying for the decree absolute. In reality, this can take much longer.
When may be the right time to apply for the decree absolute depends on your circumstances. For example, applying for a decree absolute too soon could impact the outcome of your financial settlement. Speak to our international divorce solicitors for more information about this.
