This is the second part in a four part review of the Divorce Process entitled The Acknowledgement of Service. Part I:. Part III:. Warriors orochi 4 steam. Part IV:Once a divorce petition has been filed at the court, it will normally be posted to the other spouse to the marriage. The spouse being divorced is referred to as the ‘Respondent’.Along with the divorce petition, the court will also send the Respondent some other documents too called an Acknowledgement of Service Pack. One of those forms needs to be filled in by the Respondent, signed by them or their solicitor and returned to the court.The Respondent must acknowledge to the court within 7 days of receiving the acknowledgement that they have received the divorce petition and they must also notify the court whether they consent to the divorce proceeding undefended or whether they do not.At this stage in the proceedings the Respondent needs to consider their position very carefully because this may be the only opportunity the Respondent has to alter the direction of the divorce.
Considerations for the Respondent after receiving the Divorce Petition and Acknowledgement of Service Pack:The Respondent should at this stage consider some of the following issues before returning the Acknowledgement of Service Form to the court:1. Are you willing to agree to the divorce progressing on an undefended basis? In other words, do you contest the divorce as set out by the Petitioner or are you willing to agree to allow the Petition to proceed without you defending the suit?Although it is unusual for Respondents to defend a divorce in England, the Respondent can nevertheless cross-petition and issue their own petition for a divorce in response to the existing petition and that way the Respondent can become the person seeking the divorce.This is a fairly complex area of the divorce process and if it applied to you, then you are well advised to contact us. We specialise in complex and intricate divorces.2. Are you prepared to accept the reasons for the divorce as they have been set out in the Petition by the Petitioner?There will often be considerable disagreement between the parties as regards the grounds of the divorce and this may well be an area on which the Respondent may wish to seek legal advice from an independent Solicitor.It is important at this stage in the proceedings not to allow emotions to cloud your judgement. If you agree with the main principal of the divorce petition, namely that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, then you may well be advised to take a conciliatory approach to some or all of the allegations set out in the petition by the Petitioner.After all the objective here is to end the marriage, not to lock the parties into protracted and expensive litigation.A divorce petition will normally be defended only where you have a very strong objection to the grounds put forward by the Petitioner or, where the petition is untrue in some material way.3. If the Petitioner has included a Prayer in the divorce that you pay the costs of the divorce, are you prepared to pay this?It is vital that you relay your position in this regard to the court at this stage on the Acknowledgement of Service form.
23 Acknowledgement of Service Form Templates to Download Whenever a respondent or defendant is served by a court for whatever case, they are required to fill and submit an acknowledgement of service form. Acknowledgement Of Service Form D10 Pdf File Step 3) Respondent receives and returns divorce documents. The court sends some paperwork to your spouse (the respondent) to inform them that you have applied for a divorce and to request their approval to the divorce proceeding uncontested.
The Respondent may not get another opportunity to contest paying the costs of the divorce later.Although generally parties to a straightforward divorce are not required to attend the court, the most common situation where they are required to attend is when the issue of costs is hotly contested and the judge may want to hear from the Respondent and in some cases also the Petitioner about this.The Respondent should bear in mind that the costs of the divorce are just that! They are the costs of the divorce only and not the costs of any other aspect of the separation such as the costs of dealing with disputes about the children or the costs of the financial settlement of the divorce.Where the Respondent is prepared to pay the costs of the divorce, they should also consider limiting their agreement to a specific sum of money.If the Petitioner is seeking more than this, be wary.In many cases where the divorce is amicable and agreed between the parties it is fair that the parties also split the costs of the divorce 50/50.4.
Step 3) Respondent receives and returns divorce documentsThe court sends some paperwork to your spouse (the respondent) to inform them that you have applied for a divorce and to request their approval to the divorce proceeding uncontested. The respondent is expected to respond to the court within 8 days.Process DiagramAround a week after the court receives your correctly completed Divorce Petition, the court will send a package of documents to the respondent.The courtposts a pack of documents about the divorce toyour spouseThe documents will be posted to your spouse at the address that you provided on the petition.The package will include these documents:Form D9HNotice of issue of Petition.