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05/11
02:50
Details About a Contested Divorce
The experienced solicitors in our Family Solicitors Leeds office know that there isn’t really any kind of a divorce that is easy to go through. It’s a painful realization that the marriage you thought would last a lifetime has run its course and needs to end. On its own, that is a difficult process to go through. However, if your spouse decides to contest the divorce, it gets even more difficult.
Most people believe that contested divorces only occur when one of the spouses doesn’t want the divorce process to continue. However, the solicitors in our Divorce Solicitors Leeds office often advise clients that the main reason a divorce is contested is because of a disagreement with the terms in the divorce.
When one spouse files for divorce, they also file a document with the court letting them know how they would like assets to be divided and custody details to be handled. Upon receipt of this document, the other spouse then has an opportunity to review the details. They then file a response which indicates that they agree with the terms outlined in the initial filing or they do not agree. If they do not agree with the terms, they file a separate document which indicates they plan to contest the divorce.
At that point, everything becomes much more complicated and how the process continues is based upon the legal system. Anyone who reaches this state should hire a solicitor to represent them if they have not already done so.
A divorce that is not contested can take at least 5 months from start to finish, however a contested divorce takes much longer to be completed. It also becomes much more difficult from a legal perspective because the courts will be much more involved in deciding how things will be handled. There are very specific timings for when certain documents must be filed and there are timings for when responses to those documents must be given.