My Spouse Is Divorcing Me Based on My Unreasonable Behaviour. Do I Have to Co-operate When This Is So Unfair?

As the law stands currently in order to get divorced before 2 years have elapsed since you and your spouse separated you or your spouse has to rely upon a fault based fact to evidence the irretrievable breakdown of your marriage to the court.  This essentially means that you or your spouse has to allege either adultery or unreasonable behaviour.  

This can feel very unfair when you are on the receiving end of a petition particularly, for example, if your spouse is in a new relationship.  

Rightly or wrongly getting divorced is normally just a paper exercise and the content of the petition has no impact on how the financial aspects of the divorce are dealt with.   You also have the option available to deny all of the allegations in full whilst still allowing the divorce to proceed.  This is generally what we advise clients to do unless they are accused of anything extremely serious for example that could constitute a criminal offence.  

If your spouse is represented they should provide you with a draft of the petition before sending it to the court.  With a view to progressing matters smoothly and not wasting time and money on an aspect of the case that will not change the overall outcome they may be willing to make some amendments to the draft.  They cannot however make the petition neutral as they have to allege that you have done something wrong.  

George Green’s Specialist family and Divorce lawyers give advice regularly on divorce and the financial aspects of divorce.   If you wish to discuss your matter please Jane Williams on 01384 340 528 (jwilliams@georgegreen.co.uk at our Cradley Heath office.  We represent clients from the West Midlands and beyond including Dudley, Stourbridge, Cradley Heath and Wolverhampton.