need advice on statement of case on diy divorce.

Hi Im new here so hope I have put this in the right place, I really am stuck here and not very good at filling in forms at the best of times,

bit of boring history lol after a very rocky and abusive marriage 16 years of marriage and a separation of 2 years where I lived in the house with the 5 kids we had, my husband came back the council house we lived in when he had heard I had started seeing someone else, after a very bad argument I was basically forced to leave the property , I have tried twice before to divorce my husband. the first time he refused to agree to sign the papers.. so I had to leave it for two years.. after two years I tried again while I didn''t need his consent to divorce, I needed his signature to prove he knew he was being divorced. apparently the bailiffs had tried on various occasions and couldn''t find him at home. and my solicitor at the time basically said he could do no more unless I paid to hire a someone to find him and serve the papers. and basically it got left at that... My solicitors were basically quite useless and it was dragging on and on so I left it... Now my youngest child with him is now 19 and there are no problems with children of the marriage re the divorce. I have decided to go for a DIY divorce but am stuck on what to put for the statement of marriage.. I lived with my partner after I left the marriage and we now have two children one who is 9 in December and the other who is 6 in July so I am basically divorcing my husband on the 5 year separation ruling. On the statement of case what should I was thinking of putting.

After a Trial separation of two years when my husband originally left the rented property and Many Arguments later he returned to the jointly named rented house, because he had heard I was seeing someone else, I could not live in the same house as my husband and In Jan 2003 I left the marital home and lived with friends until my partner and I moved into our own house.
I now have two sons with my partner one who is 9 in December 2012 and one who is 6 in July 2012. I haven''t seen or had contact from my husband since 2003 and Wish to be divorced due to the fact that we have been separated over five years and the children are all adults and over 18.

would this be ok or would I need to put anything else... I really don''t want to put he was abusive or anything as I am quite happy to say I just left so he cant contend anything to drag it out.. All I want is a divorce now.. this has been going on long enough.

All advice welcome please.
this is the third time I have tried to divorce him so I really want it to be 3rd time lucky

Hi RHW.

I would leave most of it out actually. Stick to the facts that are relevant. Like this:


I have not had contact from my husband since March 2003 and wish to be divorced due to the fact that we have been separated over five years.

That I think is all that your really need to say.

You need to say enough to get divorced but not too much. All they really need to know is the start date and that its really 5 years. Then you can divorce him without his consent. C.

The standard paragraph for the reason the marriage has broken down is;

“The parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the Petition.”

Marshy is right about the particulars or to be sure you can say;

“After matrimonial difficulties the Petitioner and Respondent separated on [pick on date at least five years ago] and have not resumed cohabitation since that date.”

thanks for that. I''m tempted to go with the old papers from my solicitors.