Family Court rejects 28 identical divorce petitions

It is established law that one of the grounds available to obtain a divorce in English/Welsh law is that of the “unreasonable behaviour” of the other party.

When applying for a divorce on these grounds the petitioner must give particulars of the respondent’s “unreasonable behaviour” in the divorce petition and these can consist of just one example or a number of examples as long as the petitioner can show he/she can no longer tolerate living with the respondent as a result of that behaviour.

A Family Court judge has recently dismissed 28 divorces on the basis that the behaviour stated in each of the divorce petitions was exactly the same. All 145 words in the examples of behaviour were identical and the judge concluded it would be impossible for 28 respondents to have acted in exactly the same way.

All 28 divorce petitions were drafted by an unregulated family law company who stated that they used standard wording on their divorce papers.

As a result of the decision to reject the 28 divorce petitions the petitioners will have to start again and most likely at additional cost to themselves.

At mosshaselhurst we have family law experts who deal with your case on an individual basis and acknowledging that no cases are ever the same as a previous one.

If you need family law advice then please contact one of our family law experts Stephen Warburton or David Bannister at our Northwich office on 01606 74301.