The divorce procedure must be handled in accordance with the relevant application procedures, and there are some common procedures. However, in case the couple has children, both parties must make arrangements for the children and deal with the arrangements in the divorce process.
1. The spouse who acts as the Applicant for Divorce shall submit a divorce petition to the registry of the family court, or both spouses shall jointly file a divorce application.
2. Where a divorce petition is filed, the divorce petition shall be served on the party who acts as the Respondent and the Respondent shall be entitled to respond to the petition.
3. In case any emergency application is made, an interim order, such as a temporary visit order, custody order or maintenance order shall be required to be issued.
4. Affidavits may be filed at this stage.
5. Matters concerning the divorce will be included in the court’s provisional order list.
6. Usually, a divorce decree will not be objected to, but there may be disputes about property, support, custody or visit between the two parties. If the decision of divorce cannot be contested, the Applicant will be called to the court to verify the contents of the petition and the statement on the arrangement of children, which will be conducted in public in the court, and the Respondent shall be entitled to choose whether to appear in court or not. In case the Respondent appears in court, the judge will determine whether the Respondent intends to contest the proceedings.
7. In case both parties have reached an agreement on matters concerning custody, visit and other issues, the judge may approve relevant agreements and make a final order.
8. An application for an order absolute may be made six weeks after the provisional order is granted, and the absolute decree may be issued about two months after that.