Help! Overwhelmed, understanding the next steps.

[bellflalala]

Hi, I am filling in the divorce petition form and have got myself very confused going round in circles on various websites. So I complete the initial form and send it off and this seems to start the process.
We have two children (8&10) and a flat which we are all currently living in but can't afford to stay in if we split up, unless we live like this for another 10 years, so will have to move elsewhere cheaper in the country. So I think we need a financial agreement and a children agreement (not sure what this is called). Do we get to the stage of having a decree nisi before I do the finances and children stuff? Does it matter if I wait until this stage? I'm feeling overwhelmed by the admin side of things and wish I could find something that says first do....., second do....... Anyone aware of anything? Maybe not as everyone's circumstances are always different.
Thank you!

[NotJanine]

Based on my experience so far -
Sending off the petition is the first stage. The court will then write to your H (the respondent) and he replies to say he agrees.
You will then confirmation of that from the court and you will be able to apply for the decree nisi
You will get confirmation of when the decree nisi is being pronounced in court and will receive the official confirmation shortly after it is done
You have to wait 6 weeks and 1 day after the decree nisi before you can apply for the decree absolute

Each stage can take a while, depending on how busy your local court is. You get sent leaflets from the court to help you with the process and wikidivorce is a good online resource (or ask on here!)

The agreement is a Consent Order. This has to be drawn up by a solicitor and gets sent to the court for them to approve. You want to have this approved between decree nisi and decree absolute. You can start on it now if you want.

If there's anything out of the ordinary or if you think your H will make things difficult then you should definitely get legal/financial advice. You may want to get it anyhow.

[bellflalala]

Thanks that's very helpful. We will definitely need some kind of financial agreement as we need to split the money from the flat, and I should get slightly more as I'm having the kids more, and a consent order. I really must get on with it, just seems like so much to get my head around so I'm procrastinating, then feeling stressed about the so much to do and so on....