Divorce

Divorce

• The legal termination of marriage• Dissolution of marriage• Under English law, the only basis for divorce is

the irretrievable breakdown of marriage• The official request to a court to end a marriage

is called divorce petition

Fault divorce

• Until 1969, most states required grounds for divorce – the guilty party and the innocent party

• In England, divorce would be granted only to the innocent party (petitioner) who could prove that the other party (respondent) committed a matrimonial offence

• Largely based on the church (ecclesiastical) law

Matrimonial offences

• Adultery• Intolerable Cruelty• Desertion

“Uncontested” divorce

• Both sides deliberately agreed that the wrongful conduct would be claimed – even untruthfully

• Perjury – lying under oath

No-fault divorce

• After 1969• Pioneered in the US by the State of California

with the passage of the Family Law Act of 1969• The Act signed by Governor R. Reagan on

September 4, 1969 and became valid on January 1, 1970

• Abolished the old common law for divorce

Grounds for no-fault divorce

• Less specific reasons, such as incompatibility or irreconcilable differences

• The court decides how to divide communal property and who gets custody of the children

• If one of the spouses is financially dependent on the other, the court will usually order the other one to pay alimony (AmE) or maintenance (BrE)

Elements of divorce

1. Dissolving the marriage – the formal legal process by which the marriage is ended

2. Financial arrangements – the process of dividing up the marital assets and agreeing on maintenance

3. Childcare arrangements – the process of deciding who the children of the marriage will live with (residency) and how much contact the non-resident parent will have

Dissolving the marriage

• Petition for divorce• Acknowledgement of service• Obtain Decree Nisi• Obtain Decree Absolute (after six weeks)

Financial arrangements

• Apply for Ancillary Relief • Financial disclosure • Negotiation• Obtain financial court order

Childcare arrangements

• Agreement• Application for residence and/or contact• Investigation• Residency court order

Divorce today

• In the UK, 40 % of marriages end in divorce• In the USA almost 50 %• Croatia – current statistics show that every fifth

marriages ends in divorce

Vocabulary

• Dissolution of marriage – razvrgnuće braka• To file a divorce petition – podnijeti zahtjev za

razvod braka• Petitioner – tužitelj u brakorazvodnoj parnici• Decree of divorce – rješenje o rastavi braka• No fault divorce, uncontested divorce –

sporazumni razvod braka

Vocabulary II

• Decree Nisi – privremeno rješenje o razvodu braka

• Decree Absolute – pravomoćna presuda o razvodu braka

• Ancillary relief – financijska pomoć kod razvoda• Financial disclosure – iznošenje podataka o

financijama

Vocabulary exercise• Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word(s) from the list below:• grounds, separation, irretrievably, cohabitation, circumstances, respondent, family,

relief• An action for _________________ or divorce begins by filing a signed and sworn

statement with the court indicating that sufficient grounds for __________ from marriage exist. After the complaint is filed, it is served on the _______________, who has time to file an answer to the complaint. The _____________ court can issue a decree for divorce under a number of _________________. The court will grant a divorce when the marriage is _____________ broken. The parties can also get a divorce when there is no reasonable likelihood that _________________ will resume and the court is satisfied it would not be harsh or contrary to the public interest to grant the divorce on the ____________ requested.

Answer key• An action for SEPARATION or divorce begins by filing a signed

and sworn statement with the court indicating that sufficient grounds for RELIEF from marriage exist. After the complaint is filed, it is served on the RESPONDENT, who has time to file an answer to the complaint. The FAMILY court can issue a decree for divorce under a number of CIRCUMSTANCES. The court will grant a divorce when the marriage is IRRETRIEVABLY broken. The parties can also get a divorce when there is no reasonable likelihood that COHABITATION will resume and the court is satisfied it would not be harsh or contrary to the public interest to grant the divorce on the GROUNDS requested.