Procedure.—The application for a divorce is made by a petition to the Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice.
The party seeking relief is called the petitioner, and the party against whom the petition is brought is called the respondent. The party with whom a husband alleges his wife has committed adultery is called the co-respondent. The person with whom a wife alleges her husband has committed adultery is not a party to the suit. However, a woman implicated in a divorce suit may, upon proper application, secure an order permitting her to attend the proceedings as an intervener.
Divorce proceedings in England are very expensive; the costs in an ordinary uncontested suit amount to from thirty to forty pounds sterling.
A petitioner or respondent who is not worth twenty-five pounds after payment of his or her debts, exclusive of wearing apparel, may sue or defend in forma pauperis. A person whose income exceeds one pound a week cannot, except in special cases, sue or defend in forma pauperis. A party desiring to sue or defend in forma pauperis must as a preliminary measure prepare a written statement of his or her case, setting forth the facts relied upon as a cause of action or defence, and obtain thereon an endorsed opinion of a barrister-at-law setting forth his professional opinion that the cause of action or defence as stated is good in law. The applicant must then make an affidavit, attaching the statement and the barrister’s opinion. This affidavit is then filed in the Divorce Registry of Somerset House, where two days later, if a proper case is made out, an order is issued granting the applicant leave to sue or defend in forma pauperis. No fees are charged in respect to this application nor upon the subsequent proceedings in court. No solicitor or barrister is assigned to the party proceeding in this form.
Jurisdiction.—The Court will only entertain jurisdiction when the husband is domiciled in England. If the husband is temporarily residing abroad an action by him or his wife for divorce must be instituted in England.
The English Courts do not recognize a change of domicile which is obtained simply to enable the parties to obtain a divorce in another country, the laws of which offer greater facilities.
If the domicile of the husband is in England, and either the husband or the wife obtains a decree of divorce in the United States of America or elsewhere, the English courts will treat such a divorce as a nullity. A person’s domicile is his or her permanent home. An Englishman who lives in America for twenty-five years is not domiciled there unless by all the facts his conduct shows that he has abandoned his English domicile.
Condonation.—A matrimonial offence which is a sufficient cause for divorce may be condoned or forgiven by the spouse aggrieved, and such condonation is a good defence to the action. But subsequent misconduct will revive the offence as if there had been no condonation.
Connivance.—It is a sufficient defence to an action for divorce for the respondent to show that the adultery complained of was committed by the connivance or active consent of the petitioner.
Collusion.—Collusion is the illegal agreement and co-operation between the petitioner and the respondent in a divorce action to obtain a judicial dissolution of the marriage.