I received divorce papers from my spouse. What do I do now?

After the Writ for Divorce and all accompanying documents have been filed in court and served on you, you would have to file a Memorandum of Appearance within 8 days from the date of being served with the Writ for Divorce. In the event you choose to contest the divorce, you have within 14 days from the deadline for the serving of the Memorandum of Appearance to file your Defence.

Alternatively, should you wish to put forth your own reasons for the divorce and/or other claims on the ancillary matters, you can choose to file a Defence and Counterclaim within 14 days from the deadline for the serving of the Memorandum of Appearance.

In the event you wish to come to an agreement with your spouse in order to avoid a contested divorce, you may request for a Family Dispute Resolution Conference with a Judge from the Family Justice Court, or make a request through your lawyer. This would take place at the next stage of proceedings, when the Court fixes a Status Conference or Case Conference for your matter. 

If the Court has made a decision that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, the Court would then grant the Interim Judgement at the stage of the divorce hearing. This concludes the first stage of the divorce and the case would proceed to the ancillary matters stage of proceedings.  

At the second stage of the divorce, both parties are required to file Affidavits of Assets and Means, which discloses parties’ assets, liabilities, income, expenditure and contributions towards the marriage. Following the exchange of such Affidavits, a hearing date would be fixed for the Court to decide on the ancillary matters.

Once orders on ancillary matters have been made by the Judge, both parties can apply for the Certificate of Making Interim Judgment Final once 3 months have passed since the grant of the Interim Judgment.