What is an Uncontested Respondent Divorce?

An uncontested respondent divorce is one where you have received (or been told to expect) divorce papers from your spouse and you do not make a formal legal objection to the divorce going through.

Your solicitor will collect all the relevant details from you, correspond on your behalf with the other parties involved (your spouse and their solicitor, if appropriate) and prepare and file all the relevant papers.

Powells can be instructed to undertake the above for a fixed fee offering you:

• a reply to divorce papers you have received
• all your divorce paperwork taken care of
• guaranteed fees
• advice from an experienced divorce and family solicitor
• access to your solicitor by email and direct dial telephone
• a solicitor who explains everything in plain English

What is included in the Fixed Fee?

You will be allocated a family solicitor to handle your divorce.

You will be provided with email and direct dial contact number for your solicitor.

Your solicitor will obtain the information we need from you and send you a divorce procedure explanation. They will help you understand and file all the appropriate paperwork as follows:

• A form called a 'petition' is received by you
• Where appropriate a form called a “statement of arrangements for children” is sent to you.
• Your solicitor will discuss these documents with you and their implications and then fill in a type of receipt saying that you will not formally defend the divorce but protecting your interests on other aspects such as finance and children.
• Your solicitor will receive a note of when the divorce will be pronounced.
• The District Judge checks all the paperwork to establish that your spouse has proved grounds for divorce. If this is the case they give a date when the divorce will be partly announced.
• Sometimes Respondents are asked to pay a large part of the costs of their spouse too. Your solicitor will help you through this and write a letter to help you. It is possible to attend Court to argue the point but this is not included in the fixed fee.
• 6 weeks and 1 day later, provided there are no problems, your spouse can make an application to get the decree absolute which is the paper proving the final legal end to the marriage. When your solicitor gets it, they will check it and send it on to you with advice about issues that then arise such as making a Will.

Throughout this process your solicitor will tell you when one of the above steps has been taken. In addition to the completion and filing or all the paperwork we include an allowance of 1 hour discussion with you by phone, e-mail or in person. In the vast majority of cases this is more than sufficient to deal with all the above issues.

Additional fees

In most cases the above follows through without difficulty. In some cases there can be additional issues to be resolved and we do charge extra for this additional work. Examples can be: sorting out a financial agreement and advice on contact to children. Any extra costs will be discussed and agreed with you before any work is undertaken.

Why pay a Fixed Fee?

By paying a fixed fee at the start of your case you have certainty about the costs involved. The alternative is to pay an hourly rate (£220 plus VAT) for the time your solicitor spends on your case.