DIY Divorce in England

 

 

We are often asked if it is possible to carry out a DIY divorce. And the answer is, "Yes". It is a general principle in English law that no person needs to employ a lawyer if he/she does not want to and anyone can represent themselves in court. This is true of divorce just as it is of any other legal proceedings.

 

Indeed, some people have been very successful at conducting their own litigation. There were the defendants who defended themselves in the MacDonalds defamation trial, for instance. They did so with skill against a very wealthy and well known plaintiff.

 

In fact, if one wants to conduct one's own divorce it is perfectly easy to contact one's local County Court and obtain the necessary forms. And for some people this is a perfectly satisfactory option so long as one is aware that the court staff cannot give legal advice and if one chooses to do these things oneself then one must (a) take the time to learn how to do it and (b) if anything does go wrong then one has to accept responsibility for it.

 

To that extent it is very like servicing one's own car or doing one's own plumbing. It can be done but it does take the time to learn how to do it and if the job is bodged then there is no-one to blame but oneself.

 

Before deciding to conduct a DIY divorce there are a number of things worth thinking about. Firstly, it is very difficult to be dispassionate when acting as a litigant in person. It is difficult to stand back from the case and look at it objectively. People have a very natural tendency to see things from their own perspective and not to look at matters dispassionately. It is sometimes very difficult for a wife whose husband who has committed adultery, for instance, not to feel that she has been "wronged" and that the courts will recognise this in any settlement. They will not. This very often spills over into naming 'the other party'. In general that is not a good idea but people do not usually realise that until they have made the mistake of doing so.

 

It was Dr Johnson who said that a lawyer who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. And he said that for precisely this reason - it is very difficult to be dispassionate about a case where you are the subject. It is to obtain dispassionate advice that people go to lawyers and the importance of this should not be underestimated.

 

Be that as it may, it is still perfectly feasible for some people to do their own divorce if that is what they want. They should, however, be aware of the following points:-

(1) The process is commonly divided into three parts (not all of which will apply to very case). These parts are (a) the process of obtaining a divorce (culminating in obtaining the decree absolute which allows both parties to remarry if they wish), (b) disputes over property (how the matrimonial assets are to be divided up and (c) disputes about children where the parents cannot agree such issues as custody or residence.

 

Frankly, the latter two aspects of a divorce are issues which most people would be unwise to try and tackle themselves. It may well be that in a simple case a person may be able to handle a divorce so far as obtaining decree absolute but it becomes a very different matter if there are significant disputes about assets or children. These are both areas where any prudent person would be sensible to take professional advice.

(2) Assuming that someone still wants to conduct the divorce him/herself it is much simpler if one is simply talking about the process which culminates in decree absolute. Nevertheless, it is important to realise that the law is a technical matter just like any other learned skill and it is easy to make mistakes. For instance, it is simple for a layperson to assume that if, say, a husband leaves home and chooses to work overseas then that is unreasonable behaviour on her husband's part and that should entitle her to obtain a divorce based on unreasonable behaviour. However, there are at least two other grounds for divorce which might apply in this situation - desertion or separation. If the person in this case had issued a divorce based on unreasonable behaviour then it would depend entirely how the particulars of behaviour were drafted whether such a petition would be acceptable to a court. If the court decided that the particulars as drafted indicated desertion or separation rather than unreasonable behaviour then the petition would be rejected.

 

Pitfalls such as the above are common and can turn what might have been a straightforward divorce for a professional into something which it is really difficult for a layperson to disentangle. Before deciding to embark on a DIY divorce one must think carefully about these issues. A DIY divorce is possible and perfectly feasible in some cases but they are rarely quite as simple as one imagines if one has had no experience of dealing with divorce before.