Marriages do not always work the way we expected. If your marriage is in a position from where you feel like you couldn’t carry it anymore, you might end up looking for a divorce. You can go with a sole application by applying on your own, or you could go for a joint application together with the other party.
Depending on the state where you reside, you need to take actions accordingly in order to apply for the divorce. Here is a quick guide curated by the best Gold Coast Lawyers to help you file your separation case.
- Start with finding suitable grounds for divorce: The very first thing that one needs to mention while applying for a divorce is the reason behind it. This is referred to as the ‘grounds’ or ‘reasons’ for the divorce. These need to be well defined in your paperwork before you could proceed further. Some of these ‘grounds’ can be:
- You need to show that the marriage is broken to an irreplaceable stage.
- Your spouses have been mentally incapacitated for about three years.
- You are being a victim of cruel and inhuman treatment of your partner. However, this does not include frequent disagreement.
- Your spouse has abandoned you for about a year or is refusing to have a physical relationship with you for a long period of time.
- Your spouse has committed adultery and you have enough evidence to prove it.
- Your partner has been in prison for a continuous three years.
Besides these, there can be several other grounds that may require proper evidence and convincing to get a divorce.
- Preparing your forms: Once you are sure enough about the reasons that led to the divorce, it’s time to prepare your documents and other legal forms required for the dissolution of your marriage. You will be required to present a copy of your marriage or ceremonial certificate along with a few other documents such as your citizenship certificate or passport. The list of documents required may vary as per the circumstances demand. As a reminder, you should file your case in the country where you have been living for the last six months.
- File a petition: The next step involves filing your petition. This means that you have requested to dissolve your marriage. Before you could submit the application to the court, you need to make sure it is notarized. You will be charged a nominal fee for the same and you will get a copy of your petition with the date stamp, ensuring that your petition has been filed.
- Acknowledgment of Service: After you have filed the request for separation, you need to inform your partner by providing them a copy of your petition. This needs to signed and accepted by your spouse to proceed further. Although, in case of a joint application, this step is not necessary as both the parties were actively involved in filing the petition. In the case of sole application, you can opt from a number of ways to serve your spouse with the petition. You can have it delivered by the sheriff’s office if your spouse lives in the same country. In case they are living in some other country, you can opt for some private processing service to help you with this. You can even make use of ‘constructive service’ if you are unable to locate your partner by publishing the notice in a local newspaper for 30 days.
- Financial and other settlements: Before you show up in the court, it is recommended to look into your settlement plans. List down your assets and properties that would be bought up for the asset division. This will include houses, vehicles, bank deposits, loans, and anything else that the two of you bought during the marriage. As this is quite a complex task, consult your attorney to help you with this.
The above-mentioned points are just a few of several other things that need to be taken care of during the process of separation, such as child’s possession and spousal alimony. If you or your family member is going through this phase, it’s better to visit some experienced family law solicitor to help you with the process.
Bio
Gary Mallett is counted amongst the finest family lawyers in Gold Coast. Serving as an Associate at OMB Solicitors, he proudly holds decades of experience focussing primarily on cases such as financial agreement preparation and advice, parenting disputes, property disputes, divorce, child support issues, and domestic violence cases.
