Divorce - What DON'T you know?

It seems that this summer is NOT the summer of love for many well known celebrities as divorces continue to hit the headlines....

The National Bureau of Statistics for the People’s Republic of China has also published information showing an increase in couples filing for divorce for the 12th consecutive year. The data also shows the summer holidays as the most popular time of year as parents often wait until their children have completed their exams before starting proceedings.

Although divorce is now a subject most of us are unfortunately familiar with, there are still a great many unknowns.

Here are some details from around the world you probably don’t know:

• Divorce is allowed in every nation worldwide except The Philippines and Vatican City, where the law allows only for annulment.
• Under English law there is only one ground for divorce; that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. However, there are five facts that may constitute this; adultery, unreasonable behaviour, 2 years separation (if both consent) or 5 years separation (if only one party consents) or 2 years desertion by one partner.
• You cannot claim adultery as grounds if you continued to live with your spouse for 6 months or more after you found out about it.
• An annulment differs from a divorce (a court order that terminates a marriage) in that it declares the marriage was never valid in the first place. A ‘void marriage’ is based on major grounds such as incest, bigamy or lack of consent. Once these grounds have been established, the court will grant a decree of annulment.
• Chile only fully legalised divorce in 2004.
• Ireland is one of the most difficult places to obtain a divorce, requiring the couple to be separated for 4 out of the previous 5 years.
• New York was the last US state to legalise ‘no fault’ divorce.
• If you are considering a separation or divorce you are probably already feeling very emotional. Worrying about everything you don't know, only adds to your stress.

If you want to make sure you have all the information you need to make the process as pain-free as possible, call our experts today for a FREE 20 minute consultation. Or fill in the contact form and let us call you.

At Bakers, we focus on protecting what’s important. This may involve mediation or pursuing an alternative process of collaborative law. You may even wish to take advantage of our simple Online Divorce option. Our skilled solicitors will help you every step of the way to ensure the most effective, efficient resolutions for your circumstances are reached.