Hi.
im sorry of this is going to be long winded, but i will include everything, and ask all my questions so i can to get the best advice possible, as i am still totally lost..
i am in the process of divorcing my husband, but its not going as smoothly as i wanted it, or expected it, to go.
i completed the forms and submitted them to my solicitor, i advised husband EXACTLY what was written on the forms, as we had agreed to do this as together and amicable as possible (that was too good to be true) and he said that everything i had written on the form i.e my
grounds for divorce, were fine, and he would agree to them. There was a slight delay in the forms being submitted to the court as he agreed to pay half of the court fee and i would pay the other half, but he dragged his heels for 4 months with giving me the money, so i just paid it myself, and got the money off him later. by the time the forms had been submitted to the court, i had moved out of the country. i received a call from my solicitor about 3 weeks later to say that the forms had been returned to the court, as he did not live at the address on the letter (turns out someone had wrote the wrong door number on) that was rectified and he received the forms. i then got a very nasty email from him stating that he was going to contest the divorce as there was a section on the papers that said i was going to claim some kind of money from him. i tried to tell him, as i had told him at the time of submitting the forms, as as i was again advised from my solicitor, that that section is only completed to cover the solicitors back, in case i want to make a claim in the future.. i had already told him that i don''t want anything from him, i just want him out of my life, and that when the
Decree Nisi is granted i will be applying for a
Clean Break order.. he was very stubborn and would not listen to me, and said that he was going to contest the divorce, and make me look really bad, and screw me over. i called my solicitor and she said that he probably wont, and anyway, the time frame for him to contest the divorce was over, and he couldn''t do anything about it any more (im not sure he is aware of this as he is still trying to threaten me, but now i just laugh as i know he cant). the position i am now in is this.. my solicitor has advised me that we can either a)wait for him to sign the papers and send them back to the court, or, b)submit a request to the court for an application for deemed service, because as the time frame for him to contest the divorce has gone, the court will find in my favour. the issue i have with that is that it will cost me more money (im not really bothered about that as such, but i would prefer it not to) and it will take more time. my solicitor has advised that if we go down this route, i will have to swear a separate affidavit, but because i am out of the country will mean sending it in the post, me sending it back, waiting on the court to make a decision, then getting all of the other relevant paperwork sent to me and sent back to the court once signed.
basically i just want to know what you all think i should do, and also what the process is and the time it will take whichever way i decide. it quite important that i get this sorted as quick as possible, in fact, it will determine weather or not i can remain in Australia.
again, i apologise for the length of this post, but i really need some advice.
Thanks
xxx
