Help with divorce petition

I am completing me D8 form and have a few questions, any help would be greatly appreciated.

1. In part 2 - details of marriage or civil partnership, it says to insert the name of the place where the marriage was formed, as it appears on the certificate. My certificate says the name and address, but has 2 other boxes for borough and district. Do I just need to copy what is in the first box?

2. Statement of case - for unreasonable behaviour I have heard that you need 6 examples, 5 examples, 3-6 examples... and also some samples I''ve read include dates and times whereas other''s do not. I have 5 examples (no more will fit on form) and some give specific dates and times. The top reason is him having an inappropriate relationship with another woman (he will not admit to adultery). Will this and 4 other examples suffice? Do I have to give specific examples for each reason?

3. Marriage certificate - I believe I have to send an original copy of the certificate to the courts. Do I get this back?

4. 3 copies of the divorce petition and 1 copy of the marriage certificate - is this all I need to send to the court or am I missing anything else?

Hi TFSM,

Welcome to Wiki.

1. Your marriage certificate should say something like:

At St Johns Church, in the borough of Huddersfield in the District of West Yorkshire.

If so, just copy the bits into the relevant bit on the form.

2. Didn''t do UB myself, so will leave that for another member to help with.

3. Original or Certified copy of Marriage Cert and No, you won''t get it back.

4. 3 copies of Petition, Marriage Cert & Court fee is all thats needed initially

WR

2. It sounds like you''ve done your homework. If you put your reasons on here, we can advise better. The number of clauses can be from 3-6 depending on the nature of them, if they are more serious ones then 3 may be enough but if they are more moderate then you need more. Generally 5-6 is good to make absolutely sure. Whether you give dates and examples also depend son the nature of the clause, for example if he works late every night or doesn''t take an interest in your hobbies then you wouldn''t give dates, but if he hit you then you would.

Thanks for your help

My 5 reasons are below - I''ve taken out the example of violence as I''d rather not post it on a public forum:

(a) The Respondent has formed an improper relationship with a woman whose identity and address the Petitioner does not wish to disclose. By way of example, the Respondent has taken this woman out to dinner, and on occasions has stayed overnight in the same hotel bed as the woman concerned.
(b) The Respondent has been violent towards the Petitioner. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 during an argument at the former matrimonial home, the Respondent xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
(c) The Respondent has been verbally abusive towards the Petitioner on numerous occasions causing the Petitioner distress.
(d) The Respondent''s behaviour has been very erratic over the recent past, with regular mood shifts and unprovoked anger, which has led to the Petitioner feeling uneasy in the relationship.
(e) The Respondent frequently goes out without telling the Petitioner what time he will come home. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 the Respondent left the former matrimonial home at 12pm and did not return until 9am the following morning, leaving the Petitioner anxious and distressed.

TFSM wrote:

(a) The Respondent has formed an improper relationship with a woman whose identity and address the Petitioner does not wish to disclose. By way of example, the Respondent has taken this woman out to dinner, and on occasions has stayed overnight in the same hotel bed as the woman concerned.

I would remove the example. It''s unnecessary and is a bit too close to an accusation of adultery. Just put the first sentence.

(b) The Respondent has been violent towards the Petitioner. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 during an argument at the former matrimonial home, the Respondent xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Depending when the date was you might need to remove the example. They need to be in the last 6 months, or the 6 months prior up to separation.

(c) The Respondent has been verbally abusive towards the Petitioner on numerous occasions causing the Petitioner distress.
(d) The Respondent''s behaviour has been very erratic over the recent past, with regular mood shifts and unprovoked anger, which has led to the Petitioner feeling uneasy in the relationship.
(e) The Respondent frequently goes out without telling the Petitioner what time he will come home. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 the Respondent left the former matrimonial home at 12pm and did not return until 9am the following morning, leaving the Petitioner anxious and distressed.

All fine, except the example from 2011. If it''s from early 2011 then it needs to be more recent, or just don''t give an example. But if it''s from December or November, then fine.

cookie2 wrote:

TFSM wrote:

(a) The Respondent has formed an improper relationship with a woman whose identity and address the Petitioner does not wish to disclose. By way of example, the Respondent has taken this woman out to dinner, and on occasions has stayed overnight in the same hotel bed as the woman concerned.

I would remove the example. It''s unnecessary and is a bit too close to an accusation of adultery. Just put the first sentence.

(b) The Respondent has been violent towards the Petitioner. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 during an argument at the former matrimonial home, the Respondent xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

Depending when the date was you might need to remove the example. They need to be in the last 6 months, or the 6 months prior up to separation.

(c) The Respondent has been verbally abusive towards the Petitioner on numerous occasions causing the Petitioner distress.
(d) The Respondent''s behaviour has been very erratic over the recent past, with regular mood shifts and unprovoked anger, which has led to the Petitioner feeling uneasy in the relationship.
(e) The Respondent frequently goes out without telling the Petitioner what time he will come home. By way of example, on the XX day of XX 2011 the Respondent left the former matrimonial home at 12pm and did not return until 9am the following morning, leaving the Petitioner anxious and distressed.

All fine, except the example from 2011. If it''s from early 2011 then it needs to be more recent, or just don''t give an example. But if it''s from December or November, then fine.

That''s the problem I have with dates - he was unfaithful only 2 months into the marriage and we separated after 3 (as soon as I found out basically). We have been separated for 9 months - does that mean I can''t give specific dates?

Ah right, yes you can give dates then. As long as you make it clear that you have not been living together as husband and wife since DATE, and the dates of all examples are within 6 months of that date. So for example if you separated in November 2011, then you could give examples from May-November 2011.

But I would still completely leave out the example in (a), the last thing you want is for the judge to reject it and say "please file an adultery petition". That would be majorly bad. So keep the inappropriate relationship point short and to the point, don''t mention details like dinner or bed sharing etc. Just "the respondent has been having an inappropriate relationship with another woman since DATE", is fine.