If the petitioning party does not apply for the Decree Absolute within 4½ months after the Decree Nisi the other party may apply to the court for a Decree Absolute. The courts will first wait to hear any arguments from any party who attends court before the Decree Absolute is made. However this type of hearing is rare. In a majority of the cases it is left for the petitioner to apply for the Decree Absolute when they are ready. If, for any reason, the petitioning party has not applied within 12 months then the court usually requires a simple Affidavit to be filed with the application for the Decree Absolute explaining the delay.
Once 6 weeks and 1 day have passed from the date of the Decree Nisi, the petitioning party may apply to the court for the Decree Absolute. This can be done by completing a simple form and paying the appropriate fee. If there are financial issues that have not been resolved it is advisable that the Decree Absolute be delay. If one of the parties to the divorce applies for the Decree Absolute before finances are sorted out and the other party dies there may be a loss of financial benefit.
If the court is satisfied with the papers the court sets a date for pronunciation of the Decree Nisi. Both parties will receive notification of the date from the court. The Decree Nisi will state that unless someone objects to one of the orders that are to be made, no one needs to attend Court. If the other party object to paying the costs of the divorce, the court may order them to appear before the Judge to argue why they should not pay.
When the Acknowledgment of Service is received, or the court has deemed service to have taken place, or there is proof of service from service agent, the petitioning party can then swear an Affidavit which confirms the truth of the contents of the petition. It will confirm the grounds which were given in the petition.
The other party will have 14 days to return a form called an Acknowledgment of Service to the court along with the petition. If there is no response from the other party, in certain circumstances, the court can try and get round the problem. The court can make an order that service of the petition is deemed to have taken place if it can be shown that the other party has had the papers. A service agent may be hired to serve the petition.
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