What is the difference between a sole and a joint divorce application… And does it matter?
Once a party to a marriage has decided that they want a divorce, one of the first decisions to make is whether to proceed with the divorce on a sole or joint basis.
With a sole divorce application, one party (known as the applicant) divorces the other party (known as the respondent), and the court will grant the applicant a divorce from the respondent. Under a joint divorce application, both parties are joint applicants and there is no respondent. Each party divorces the other party so the court grants applicant 1 a divorce from applicant 2 and grants applicant 2 a divorce from applicant 1.
Both application types have several similarities:
- Both application types result in the marriage legally being brought to an end through a divorce.
- Both application types follow the same “no fault” principles so it is not necessary to set out why the marriage has broken down or apportion blame, even in a sole application.
- Both application types take broadly the same amount of time to complete
- The status of the parties and who is divorcing who makes no difference to the outcome of financial proceedings or impact upon the arrangements for their children. Accordingly, there is no financial advantage to opt for a sole application over a joint application or vice versa.
The differences are really rather limited:
- Under a joint application, both parties need to jointly complete each step the divorce. They must both apply for the Conditional Order and both apply for the Final Order. Under a sole application, once the respondent has acknowledged receipt of the divorce application, the divorce will proceed based on the applicant alone making the necessary applications to conclude the process. This could potentially allow one party to delay the divorce process.
However, if one the applicants refuses to proceed with the divorce it is possible to convert a joint application into a sole application so the impact of this difference is limited to slightly delaying the process by requiring one further application to be made to convert the application to a sole application.
- The main difference is symbolic and the impression it gives. A joint application symbolises that it was a joint decision to divorce and that both parties are equally involved in the decision-making process. For some, particularly when the parties have simply drifted apart, they may that it is important to recognise that it is a joint decision by making a joint divorce application.
In other cases, one party may not feel that the marriage has broken down or for their own personal reasons may feel that they cannot actively divorce the other party in which case they may choose to be the respondent in the divorce proceedings.
There is no right or wrong answer. If possible, parties are encouraged to discuss the two options and agree how they wish to proceed. This is not mandatory however and if one party applies on a sole basis despite the other wanting to divorce on a joint basis, there is nothing the court can do. If that does happen, you should be reassured that this difference is largely procedural and makes no difference to the outcome of your case.
