The Process Of Applying For A Conditional Order
WHAT IS A CONDITIONAL ORDER?
A conditional order is a document issued by the court that says the court believes you are entitled to a divorce.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW YOU HAVE A CONDITIONAL ORDER?
Once you have applied for a conditional order you and your ex-partner can submit any draft financial agreements (also called a draft consent order/informal agreement) that details any financial decisions and agreements reached between you and your ex-partner to the court to formalise/approve into a legally binding consent/court order. This court order will not come into force until the court has issued a final order ending your divorce. A final order is a legal document issued by the court stating your marriage has ended.
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR THE PROCESS OF APPLYING FOR A FINAL ORDER
LETS RECAP – WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FIRST BEFORE YOU CAN APPLY FOR A CONDITIONAL ORDER?
SOLE APPLICANT – If you submitted your initial divorce application form D8 by yourself as a sole applicant, then the court will have sent your ex-partner (the respondent) a court stamped copy of your application form D8, a notice of divorce proceedings form D9H and an acknowledgement of service form D10. If your ex-partner (the respondent) agrees to the divorce they will complete form D10 and return it to the court within 14 days. If this is the case – you can apply for a conditional order 20 weeks after the court has processed your divorce application form D8 and issued the notice of divorce proceedings. The court will send you an email stating from when you can apply for a conditional order. If your ex-partner disagrees with the divorce then they will need to submit an answer form D8B giving a LEGAL reason why they disagree with the divorce. They must send form D8B within 28 days from when the court sent them their notice of divorce proceedings and acknowledgement of service form. There will now be a court hearing. If your ex-partner does not sent in an answer form D8B you can still apply for a conditional order after 20 weeks.
JOINT APPLICANTS – If you and your ex-partner jointly submitted divorce application form D8 to the court, after 20 weeks you can both jointly apply for a conditional order. The court will email both of you stating from when you can both apply for a conditional order.
JOINT APPLICANT TURNED SOLE APPLICANT – If you and your ex-partner jointly submitted the initial divorce application form D8 but now for whatever reason you both cannot continue as joint applicants then either of you can apply for a conditional order by yourselves after 20 weeks and change your joint application to a sole application.
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D8
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D10
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D8B
HOW DO YOU APPLY FOR A CONDITIONAL ORDER?
SOLE APPLICANT – If you submitted the initial divorce application form D8 by yourself as a sole applicant, then as the applicant you can to apply for a conditional order after 20 weeks using form D84. As stated above the court will email you from when you can apply and how you can apply (by post or online). How you apply, whether by post or online, will depend upon how you submitted your initial divorce application form D8 in the first place. You must inform your ex-partner (the respondent) and give them 14 days notice that you are submitting form D84. You must also send (serve) them a copy of your form D84. You must prove to the court you have served your ex-partner. You can do this by sending the court a completed certificate of service form FP6.
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM FP6
JOINT APPLICANT – If you and your ex-partner jointly submitted your initial divorce application form then the court will inform you both by email or letter from when you can both jointly apply for a conditional order. It is 20 weeks after the court issued your notice of divorce proceedings. You can do this using form D84.
JOINT APPLICANT TURNED SOLE APPLICANT – If you and your ex-partner jointly submitted the initial divorce application form but now for whatever reason you both do not want to continue as joint applicants then either of you can submit form D84 for a conditional order by yourself. This can be done 20 weeks after the court issued your notice of divorce proceedings. Which ever one of you does, they must give the other 14 days notice and send (serve) them a copy of the completed form D84. This person who submits form D84 to the court will now be known as the applicant. The other person will be referred to as the respondent. Once the court receives this form D84 they will inform both of you by letter or email that the divorce application has changed from a joint application to a sole application. You must prove to the court you have served your ex-partner by submitting a completed certificate of service form FP6.
METHOD OF SUBMISSION – Whether you apply for a conditional order online or by post will depend upon which method you submitted your divorce application form D8 in the first place. If you applied by post then you will submit your form D84 by post. If you applied online then you will submit your form D84 online.
As stated above the application form you will need to apply for a conditional order is form D84. This website has a Help Guide for form D84. Once you have read this page, you can click on the link below to access form D84 where it will go into detail how to complete it. The topics covered are –
- What is form D84 used for?
- Are there any government or our own L.I.P Help Guides or write ups to help you complete form D84?
- What is the fee to send form D84 to the court and how to pay for it?
- How to complete form D84 and where to send it.
- Where can you find form D84/download this form?
- When was form D84 first published and last updated?
LINK TO OUR L.I.P HELP GUIDE FOR FORM D84
WHAT WILL HAPPEN ONCE YOU SEND YOUR FORM D84 TO THE COURT?
Once the court receives your application form D84 for a conditional order the judge will consider your application. Approximately 5-6 weeks after sending in your conditional order application, the court will send you a certificate of entitlement to a conditional order document by email or post informing you and your ex-partner of a conditional order pronouncement date hearing where a judge will consider your application for a conditional order. Neither of you have to attend this hearing.
At this hearing, the judge will have in front of them –
- A copy of your divorce application form D8
- The conditional order application form D84
- Your ex-partner’s acknowledgement of service form D10 if you have made a sole application and their answer form D8B if they do not agree with the divorce.
The judge will consider whether to grant a conditional order. Once granted, you and your ex-partner will both receive a form D29 (the conditional order) and a form D84A (a notice of conditional order date and time when the conditional order was issued).
If the court rejects your conditional order application, they will send you form D79, which is a notice of refusal certificate. You will be given the reasons why a refusal certificate has been issued. More often than not the court will be asking for more information from you or to amend your original form D84 application so a conditional order can be granted. It is important that you read what the court is asking for and send it in.