Court hearing to dismiss previous proceedings?

Hi All. Would appreciate some guidance from anyone who has had similar experience or knowledge. I filed for divorce back in 2008 and got as far as Decree Nisi before I ran out of money to continue and did no more about it. STBX refused to cooperate at any level so things have dragged on for 10 years. To cut a long story short, I am about to continue the process now our son has reached 18 but advised it was best to dismiss old proceedings and reapply. My solicitor has applied to court for dismissal but we now have a hearing in a month for this. Is this normal? STBX still does not want to agree divorce but also does not want to say we had reconciled (which we hadn't but just to satisfy the court). The question is, what exactly is the court expecting from us at this stage and if STBX refuses to say we had reconciled in order to dismiss the previous case so we can enter the new case, what can I do next? Please help!

If you haven't reconciled why would you expect your ex to say as much to the court? Contempt of court is a very serious issue.

I would agree that the easiest way of obtaining divorce is to dismiss the petition but the court will want to know the reason why and there is no reason not to amend the existing petition (fiddly though this is) to reflect the current position.

I would expect the court so say you have an existing petition and you can continue with that subject to filing a statement/affidavit confirming the marriage has broken down irretrievably.

A more pragmatic judge might agree that the new procedure does not fit in with the old forms and the further injection of £550 into the court services' coffers is welcome and will help the wheels of justice continue to turn.

Charles

Thanks Charles, I appreciate your response. I had not even considered being in contempt of court at all and would be happy to continue with the old petition but instead I looked at the possibility that from the Court's view, with us continuing to live under the same roof and raising our child together for an additional 10 years, it did blur the lines a bit as to whether we had reconciled or not.

Similarly, I guess it could also be argued that separate rooms for the last 10 years constitutes a 'separation' but doesn't this also mean proving separate finances as well?

Knowing my STBX, he is happy to tread water for the rest of his life and will not agree to calling it a reconciliation nor a separation so I have to intervene and make the choices.

It looks as if depending on the judge on the day, we can expect it to go either way, either to file an additional statement to continue the old petition or agree to dismiss it and file for a new one.

Either way it will be a step forward and I'll keep you posted about the outcome. Thks again.

Ede

It is possible to live separate and apart under the same roof but the test lies with the judge.

An old fashioned (but correct as the law stands) approach is to see if the parties share any part of their lives - do they shares meals or cook and eat at difference times? Do they socialise together? Do they holiday/travel/sleep together?

If you are strangers under the same roof that would class as separation but even then I have seen some judge's dismiss the application as they cannot fathom how spouses can separate but remain in the same property.

Unfortunately as the distance between the issue of the petition and the application for decree nisi increases, the more chance there is that the process will 'grow legs' and run away with you.

If you keep plugging away at it and throw some money in the court's direction you will eventually get the guidance you need i.e. make a new application or amend the old, at which point you can make some progress.

Charles

Update:
The old proceedings have now been dismissed and a new process has been started. My STBX's solicitors are requesting sight of any financial agreements previously made. I had submitted an unsworn form E but STBX never engaged in the process at all so nothing to see really. Is there any point in the STBX's solicitors reviewing my Form E from dismissed proceedings?