When you apply for a divorce in Ireland, you must fulfill three major conditions for it to be granted to you. You have to have lived apart for four years the day the court proceedings begin, there is no chance of reconciling the both of you, and there are proper provisions made for the wife or husband and the dependents. Just as long as you have reached four years of being separated, divorce proceedings can begin. To prove that you were apart for four years, you need to fill-up a document called the “Family Law Civil Bill” where you have to state the date of your marriage and the date you separated. You will be asked under Oath to validate this claim when in court.
Other documents you have to submit are Form 37A, a sworn statement which includes your assets, income, debt, liabilities and outgoings, Form 37B, another sworn statement that tells about where your children live, who supervises them, their school background, health status, child maintenance, access and childcare arrangements, and finally Form 37D, a document sworn by a Solicitor and certifying that you know other alternatives to divorce that include reconciliation, separation and mediation which should be sworn by a Solicitor. Upon submission of these documents to the court, a date for a private court hearing will be identified where you have to prove you met the requirements of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996. After a thorough review by the court and they are satisfied with the findings, they will then grant a decree of divorce.
If you are a resident of Ireland but you married abroad, you can still get a divorce in Ireland. If your spouse is a resident in the EU except Denmark, you can still file the divorce. It is important though that you know where your spouse lives. You just wait for 35 days for your spouse’s response and another 28 days for the other party’s filing of a defense
If your spouse fails to honor any of the judge’s conditions such as child custody, child access and child maintenance, you need to go to the courts for further action and inflict any penalty or punishment needed as prescribed by law. Always remember to have a Solicitor with you in the court proceedings. Although it is not necessary to have a Solicitor represent you in such hearings, it is still advisable to have one because issues will crop up that would need legal expertise for them to be resolved. Taxes, insurance, and properties are concerns that must have fair resolutions and it will be a Solicitor who could bargain and fight for your rights in such legal battles.
Divorce can be traumatic to the ex-spouses, their children and their family. Heated arguments will always arise because emotions are high. That is why it is better to have a Solicitor for both the wife and the husband to represent them because they are experienced in these matters and they are in the right frame of mind to deal with issues that need to be addressed.
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