If your ex has started divorce proceedings in England or Wales, they have to send the divorce application into the Court. Once the Court receives it, it’ll be stamped and they’ll send an “Acknowledgement of Service” to you. You’ll also get a notice of proceedings too, which you should keep.
Because your ex started divorce proceedings, they’re known by the Court as the (Divorce) Applicant and you’re known as the (Divorce) Respondent.
Once you’ve received the Acknowledgment of Service, you’ll need to reply to the questions asked. You can do this either online or by post.
We're rated‘Excellent’Below we take you through each of the questions in the Acknowledgment of Service form and provide some help on how to respond to these:
The answer should just be yes.
The answer to this will usually be no, but if there are divorce proceedings in another country then the response will be yes. Add in a sentence or two to describe the other divorce case.
The answer to each part of this question will not always be the same.
Habitual residence tends to be where a person lives or spends most of their time.
‘Domiciled’ refers to the place where the Respondent has set up their permanent home.
You’ll need to confirm your nationality to satisfy the last part and you will need to answer each of the three parts of the question.
Jurisdiction is where (which country) the divorce will be processed. You can usually agree on this with your ex, but if you think your divorce should be heard in another country, answer no.
If you want your divorce financial settlement to be decided in a different country to your divorce and there is a good reason why this should happen, you should take care answering this question and consider taking legal advice before responding.
You just need to confirm the date you received the divorce petition and the address it was sent to you.
You should answer yes to this question unless you are a co-respondent, but this is rare.
You should answer no unless there are exceptional circumstances. If you intend to defend a divorce, then you should get legal advice from a Divorce Solicitor; and be aware that defending (contesting) a divorce is will cost more than not defending it.
You should not defend a divorce petition just because you don’t want to pay the divorce costs. If you say yes to this question, you can easily make an agreement between you to pay your own divorce costs or to split the total cost equally between you.
You only have seven days from receipt of your Acknowledgement of Service form to complete and return it to the Court.
If you’re thinking about getting a divorce, in addition to the personal questions you need to think about, there are legal points which need to be considered regarding whether you’re legally eligible to divorce.
As more and more people are choosing a better way, bitter divorce battles will become the a thing of the past and for many, a sensible separation that works for everyone involved, including children, is the new normal.
Divorce can profoundly affect countless aspects of your life, in particular your finances. In this article, we provide steps you can take to help you get back on your feet as quickly as possible.
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