Divorce is a legal proceeding to officially dissolve a lawful marriage.
In most cases, divorces can be categorised into two main sections, Contested or Uncontested Divorce.
In both cases, there are two main stages of the divorce proceedings.
Firstly, the Court must agree that the marriage has broken down irretrievably (i.e., Dissolution of Marriage).
In the event that the Court does find that there is sufficient information for the marriage to be dissolved, an Interim Judgment will be issued.
*Terms and Conditions apply.
Grounds of Divorce
When a divorce is heard in civil court (Not applicable for Muslim), there are 5 main grounds of divorce.
Next, the Court will assess the ancillary matters. These include matters such as the Custody and Care and Control of Children of the marriage, division of matrimonial assets, maintenance etc.
The ancillary matters can be approved together at the interim judgment, or in cases where the ancillary matters are heard at a different hearing, extracted at a later stage. Check below to view a flowchart on the procedure of a divorce proceedings.
The length of the proceedings varies on a case-to-case basis, depending on the complexity of the matter. Typically, for an uncontested proceeding, the process could take anywhere from four (4) months and above from the date the documents are submitted till the Final Judgment is obtained.