Divorce papers help

[Sb1353]

Hi all, I have just receive divorce paper after 7 months of separation. I still live in family home and my ex moved out with the children. We haven’t sorted out child arrangement yet as there will be fact finding hearing next.
The reason for divorce is behaviour which basically all false allegations she made against me. I am going to sign the papers but won’t accept the grounds. My questions:

What will happene next? Basically the grounds for divorce are all laughable and unfounded.
What will happen to the family home. I am adapting my niece to come and live with me. She is 6 years old. Can I apply for occupation order so she can’t make me sell the house?

Thanks.

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Also there is a question about the cost. Why should I pay for the cost?

[Tom_W88]

best speaking to a solicitor over it.

[SeanS]

(03-19-2019, 04:53 PM)Sb1353 Wrote: Hi all, I have just receive divorce paper after 7 months of separation. I still live in family home and my ex moved out with the children. We haven’t sorted out child arrangement yet as there will be fact finding hearing next.
The reason for divorce is behaviour which basically all false allegations she made against me. I am going to sign the papers but won’t accept the grounds. My questions:

What will happene next? Basically the grounds for divorce are all laughable and unfounded.
What will happen to the family home. I am adapting my niece to come and live with me. She is 6 years old. Can I apply for occupation order so she can’t make me sell the house?

Thanks.

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Also there is a question about the cost. Why should I pay for the cost?

1) You would have to send acknowledgement for the petition, obviously you are going to ACK and let divorce go thru, and say that you don't agree to allegations
2) As for the family home, one of the parties most likely your ex, will apply for the financial settlement. I would imagine you would have to go thru mediation first if you haven't done that yet.
3) If she has asked for cost of Divorce, which is effectively asking for petition cost to be split, I wouldn't bother challenging as you both want to divorce and it is not worth the time/effort fighting for 250 quid or something.

[Sb1353]

Thanks SeanS. Last time she played domestic violence card and skipped mediation and I am thinking she is doing the same now. In terms of cost she would want me to pay for her solicitor cost I gues and I’m not willing to do that. I won’t bother to get a solicitor and would deal with it myself.
I would have thought we would need to sort out children first and then divorce us obviously she wants everything at he same time after 7 months of separation to distract herself from cancer.

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Part of me saying contest it as she is having mentL health issue along with cancer and we have young children but more I think about it I think this would best option so we could move on. The issue is she hasn’t spoken to me since last August when she left and there isn’t any other person involved.

[AK2018]

I did put below for the fees:
Mrs x issued the divorce proceedings without mediating and I do not feel that I should be liable for any of the costs in the matter.

[SeanS]

(03-20-2019, 12:55 PM)AK2018 Wrote: I did put below for the fees:
Mrs x  issued the divorce proceedings without mediating and I do not feel that I should be liable for any of the costs in the matter.

Divorce proceedings don't require mediation. Any party can initiate the divorce proceedings any time with any ground of unreasonable behavior that they can think of ! Albeit the petitioner would have to inform the respondent as per the guidelines exception being DV/DA cases.

Normally finance and Children arrangement fall into the scope of mediation.

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(03-20-2019, 11:49 AM)Sb1353 Wrote:  In terms of cost she would want me to pay for her solicitor cost I gues and I’m not willing to do that.

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Has she explicitly asked anywhere for solicitor costs within petition ? I would have thought there is no provision within the petition to ask for solicitor/legal costs.

The section on the application where it talks about 'order for costs', it usually means the cost of the application/petition which is around 550 quid ? If that box is ticked it usually means the other party is asking to split the petition costs, not the solicitor.

[Leader1978]

My understanding is that you would only be liable for your ex's legal fees if ordered by the court. They would only order for you to pick up the costs if you showed any misconduct during proceedings i.e. filed papers late, not met the dates ordered by the court etc..

I would agree to pick up half of the costs just to avoid any additional hassle that may potentially come your way.

I wouldn't worry too much about the allegations she has raised in her statement of case, at the end of all this, all you get is a certificate to say the marriage has ended and no mention of what she is claiming regarding DA/DV.

[Sb1353]

There is question saying do yiou object to paying to cost of proceeding if so on what grounds? If this only related to application then it’s fine but if she wants me to pay her solicitor fee then I won’t be paying a penny.

[SeanS]

(03-20-2019, 03:29 PM)Sb1353 Wrote: There is question saying do yiou object to paying to cost of proceeding if so on what grounds? If this only related to application then it’s fine but if she wants me to pay her solicitor fee then I won’t be paying a penny.

I can tell you with some confidence that, those costs are only related to application. Like leader said paying the legal costs would be a LOT more bigger deal (separate hearings etc) than just one tick box in an application.