Been petitioned!

I have received from my wife, via the County Court, a petition for divorce aparantly on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. I have been advised previously by a solicitor that it would be unwise, on the grounds of cost, to defend such a petition, would you all agree?

In her narrative she has made quite a few inaccurate statements, am I at liberty to dispute these when I return the 'Acknowledgement of Service'?

Also, can I dispute any of the information given by her on the 'Statement of Arrangements for Children'?

I am in no hurry for a divorce and would prefer to go for mutual consent following 2 years separation.


thanks everyone

I AM AWAITING PETITION FOR DIVORCE FROM MY HUSBAND ANY DAY NOW.....HE WANTS MONEY/PROPERTY FROM ME......ALTHOUGH HAD SAME ADVICE I AM GOING TO DEFEND PETITION...DENY ALL UNREASONABLE BEHAVIOR....HE MUST THEN EITHER PROVE IT(WHICH HE CANT} AND NEEDS TO ATTEND COURT TO DO SO (HE IS OUT OF THE COUNTRY WITH WARRANT FOR HIS ARREST)...OR WAIT FIVE YEARS AS I WONT GIVE MY CONSENT..... GOOD LUCK

Defending a petition just costs time and lots of money. It's better to agree the marriage has irretrievably broken down and disagree with the facts cited, reserving the right to defend any allegations which may be brought up in the future.

Defending a divorce costs alot of £'s for the same result at the end of the day.
Unless someone accuses you of being such a monster to your children just sign it and let it go ahead , in this country divorce is no fault it makes no difference to the financel outcome.
ajones if you still get along ok with your ex and don't agree with the statement of arrangements for the children could you try and draw up an informal agreement between yourselves, if not prehaps mediation would help you both decide on that , from what i can remember when i done the statement of arrangements everything changed i was'nt go to stick to what was on that piece of paper , back then i did'nt want the kids argued over like they were an old pair of shoes and if dad wanted to take them out 1 evening to cinema that was fine just because that piece of paper never said anything about extra days i was'nt going to say no .

Guys,
welcome to both of you.
I was in a similar situation.Husband moved out to be with gf and expected me to petition .I was not ready to do so emotioanlly so he went ahead and petitioned me on UB,some pathetic reasons,I felt like he added insult to inury.I thought about making him wait for 5 yrs then realised that this is impossible .I think the only time you might be successful with the 5 yrs is under religous ground.
I was advised to accept but just do not agree with the reasons.
In the end I crosspetitioned,looking back it was just for my own sanity.It is mentioned here on a daily basis,if someone wants out of a marriage the other partner is powerless to stop him/her.It does not affect the financial settlement but it drags the divorce and cost more.
So it really depends ,to me it was salvaging some of my dignity as the children would have been very upset if I had just walked away.
good luck