Divorce is the official ending of a marriage (before the death of either spouse).

The official proof of divorce is a Certificate of Divorce. If you have been married you need a Certificate of Divorce before marrying someone else.

The reasons why your marriage has ended are not taken into consideration by the court when granting a divorce. This is known as no-fault divorce. To obtain a divorce you just need to establish that your marriage has 'broken down irretrievably' and you can do that by showing that you and your spouse have been separated for 12 months. There are, consequently, few opportunities to oppose a divorce application.

If you have children under 18 you need to show the court that proper arrangements have been made for them.

A divorce does not sort out issues relating to your property (ie. who gets what). To do this you need to prepare a property settlement.

There are a number of services that can help you deal with emotional issues involved in a relationship breakdown.

Before using this site you must accept our terms of use.