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Divorce/separation

Ridiculous delays at Bury St Edmunds

65 replies

silverkitten · 22/04/2018 21:02

Venting my frustration at the news I had from my solicitor at the end of the week to tell me that the certificate of entitlement to Decree Nisi has been granted - about 7 weeks after paperwork was submitted.
However, due to the heavy backlog of work at court, it is currently taking 40 to 50 days on average for the file to be passed from the judge to the admin team for court documents to be typed up. And if that weren't bad enough, confirmation of the date for the decree nisi will take 2 to 4 weeks after the Certificate has been typed up.
Why is this so difficult and taking so long? Shouldn't there be some sort of service level agreement in place? It is shocking. Truly shocking. God help us all going through this. Rant over!

OP posts:
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lozzalou93 · 22/04/2018 22:08

Providing you have your finances agreed, it’s a compulsory 6 week and 1 day (if you’re the petitioner) from that being granted to the absolute. I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s pretty normal waiting times

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MrsBertBibby · 23/04/2018 07:28

It really isn't acceptable though.

It's currently taking about a month for a petition to be issued. 2 months for a financial application to be issued and a date set for first hearing. My longest outstanding decree nisi application is from 12 February. It's taking more than a month for acknowledgements of service to get from the Court to the petitioner so the DN application to be drafted. Any kind of application for deemed service is disappearing into a black hole.

That's a mild irritation if you're amicably separated but I have clients with children living in impossibly awful situation, with disgustingly abusive husbands, and their situations are being dragged out for months by all this.

These aren't "normal" delays and they shouldn't be acceptable. Time was I could get a divorce in under 4 months. The longer files squat in my filing cabinet, the more it costs clients. The more stress families undergo. The more damage is done to parenting relationships.

All I can do is tell my clients to have a moan to their MP, but what good does that really do?

I expect the Court service to be privatised in the course of the next parliament, because clearly the Tories have abandoned the quaint notion that the rule of law, on which democracy depends, requires giving people an accessible and effective means of addressing disputes.

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silverkitten · 23/04/2018 20:39

It's really awful. My ex is a pain in the arse but nothing I cannot deal with - for now. Pity those poor women who are in situations significantly more difficult than mine.
I did think about how I could pursue this through someone like my MP or one of the justice ministers. Good idea Bert I will give it a shot. Thank you.

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MrsBertBibby · 24/04/2018 20:55

In the mean time, look how well the divorce centres are doing.

www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/munby-takes-action-on-defective-divorces/5065806.article

I would put good money on it being Bury responsible.

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TryingToForgeAnewLife · 13/05/2018 07:38

My Consent Order has just been returned after two months. It was denied Sad as they want more information. I feel absolutely sick with worry now about what will happen and l suppose once my solicitor sends back more information it will take another two months.

Will it go to the same Judge? This is Northamptonshire.

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MrsBertBibby · 13/05/2018 09:15

Hard to say if you'll get the same judge I'm afraid. Pretty much all courts are in the same shit.

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TryingToForgeAnewLife · 13/05/2018 15:24

Was hoping you'd see this MrsBertBibby you have always been sucha help.

In your experience, when further information has been requested does it take as long as the first time or does it "skip" the queue a bit?

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MrsBertBibby · 14/05/2018 09:01

I'm afraid you're likely to be back of the queue. Possibly Court staff will send to the specific judge, which might be faster, but there's usually a delay before it gets sent up regardless, so the only acceleration might be after you've escaped the first queue.

It's a nightmare. We have consent orders still outstanding that were first lodged in January.

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MrsBertBibby · 14/05/2018 09:11

Oh and you'll be at the back of the typing queue once the judge decides. And the back of the listing queue if s/he decides to call you in.

And they are planning to cut 6000+ court staff. I can only assume that people will turn to desperate measures to terminate their marriages in prefer increasing numbers.

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BLAZEFALCONBURGER · 14/05/2018 11:34

I'm currently suffering delays at BSE - 4 months to have a nisi application returned due to a silly error on my part - typo on a name. Despite us both checking it. Resubmitted, so assuming the same - that's another 4 months to hear back again.

Unfortunately each delay just adds more stress on an emotional and financial level for everybody caught up in this delay :(

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TryingToForgeAnewLife · 14/05/2018 13:44

Many thanks MrsBertBibby. I will plan on it being another two months and if it's quicker then that's a bonus

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CrabbyJo · 15/05/2018 16:52

Today I have received my divorce forms back from Bury St Edmunds. This is the third time they've come back with an error. The first time was 100% my error, I'd missed out a middle name. The second time they said I'd input the place of marriage incorrectly. We married abroad and on the certificate it has place of marriage twice, but each is formatted differently. I'd put the place of marriage as how it was listed first on the certificate. They said that was wrong. So I input it using the second format. Now that is wrong too! How am I meant to proceed now if the place of marriage is on the certificate twice, in different sections of the certificate, but one is different to the other. More specifically, an example is-
Town, In the Parish of xxxx
In the Parish of xxxx, Town

Does anyone have any advice? I've tried calling the divorce centre but I can't get through. I feel like starting again with a solicitor but I really don't have the money.

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MrsBertBibby · 15/05/2018 19:51

I would send it back pointing out what you have put here, and invite them to pick.

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Stuckinthesystem · 22/10/2018 00:07

Hi this is also a moan at the divorce delays at Bury St Edmunds.
I’m trying to get divorced (my STBX opposes it) on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour.
Papers were served to my STBX in January. He ignored them.
Solicitor informed STBX they’d proceed down undefended divorce route.
In May the solicitor told me that they had not received any feedback from the court to their deemed service application.
At end of June the court said there was a query on domicile.
Application sent back to court on the following day with the required change.
In first half of September the court replied with a request for clarification on minor administrative issues. These were corrected and the application was returned to the court.
At the end of September the Decree Nisi was refused owing to another request for clarification by the judge.
So ... the application has been returned by the court to the solicitors three times.
I think that when the judge explains what this third problem is (this is unclear even to my solicitors) another change will have to be made to the application which will then be sent back to the judge for the FOURTH time.
With current delays, that will take us into next year.
These delays are causing me emotional and financial pain.

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Stuckinthesystem · 24/10/2018 16:26

Stuckinthesystem

Hi this is also a moan at the divorce delays at Bury St Edmunds.
I’m trying to get divorced (my STBX opposes it) on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour.
Papers were served to my STBX in January. He ignored them.
Solicitor informed STBX they’d proceed down undefended divorce route.
In May the solicitor told me that they had not received any feedback from the court to their deemed service application.
At end of June the court said there was a query on domicile.
Application sent back to court on the following day with the required change.
In first half of September the court replied with a request for clarification on minor administrative issues. These were corrected and the application was returned to the court.
At the end of September the Decree Nisi was refused owing to another request for clarification by the judge.
So ... the application has been returned by the court to the solicitors three times.
I think that when the judge explains what this third problem is (this is unclear even to my solicitors) another change will have to be made to the application which will then be sent back to the judge for the FOURTH time.
With current delays, that will take us into next year.
These delays are causing me emotional and financial pain.

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Watson40 · 02/11/2018 20:04

Oh good grief. Looks like I'm in for the long haul then with all these stories of delays and issues. We are amicable currently let's hope we can keep it that way

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lillymoe · 10/12/2018 15:20

Its getting ridiculous to try and get a divorce, my partner has been separated 6 years, the Decree NISI application was sent along with confirmation of ex being served by hand on 19th October, we still don't have any update on the NISI, all they say 'its with the legal department' Its an utter joke and the solicitor is costing us a fortune.

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Goobergrapejelly · 04/01/2019 21:36

My partner applied for a decree nisi at Bury St Edmunds in August. We found out 6 weeks later they lost the paperwork. So we sent it again on the 21st September and it's still not been issued! It's driving us crazy, five months and still no nisi. Literally don't know what to do.

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Itsnotme123 · 11/01/2019 10:53

My update is that my stbex applied for the Nisi end of October and Bury St Edmunds have just told me that the Nisi will be pronounced on 6th Feb. The certificate was written on 12th December and they’ve only just informed my solicitor yesterday !

Feeling a bit numb about the whole thing.

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Tiddleypops · 05/04/2019 11:27

This is still going on. It's madness.
My application went to East Mids divorce court, but apparently they are swamped so sending all applications to be processed at Bury St Edmunds (who are also swamped so how does that work then?)

Anyway...
Applied Dec 20th.
Found out mid Feb they had lost my application and marriage certificate (but managed to cash the bloody cheque!)
I complained and they accepted copies.
H received petition early March.
He sent Acknowledgement of Service around 18th March.

I called them on 27th March and was told they were dealing with AoS received on 12th March.

I called them on 5th April and they are apparently dealing with AoS received 13th March.

So over the course of 7 working days they have only moved forward 1 day... I realise numbers will fluctuate, as will complexity, staff dealing with them etc. But seriously?! I feel like I'm going to be stuck in this hell forever Sad

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Goobergrapejelly · 07/04/2019 11:59

Here's an idea of timescales at Bury St Edmund's. Hope it's helpful :)

6th August 2018 - apply for nisi
21st Sept 2018 - Bury St Ed confirmed paperwork lost. Application submitted again.
28th Jan 2019 - nisi issued
Feb 2019 - submitted financial order
12th March - applied for absolute
14th March - absolute granted

The good news is, they do seem to process absolutes the day they get them. I'm still waiting for the financial order.

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Itsnotme123 · 08/04/2019 07:27

goobergrapejelly I got my stbex to sign a legal document saying he will not apply for absolute until the financial settlement is agreed.

Thanks for the timescale, it’s our consent order that’s holding it up now. Either the sols or I have been on holiday, but it should be finished this week and sent off next week. I don’t want it being sent back again !!!

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Franky2000 · 13/04/2019 01:13

Hi i am very confused now some people are saying its taking up to 8-12 months in BSE but some have said i can get my divorce in 5months if both parties are agree and no financial settlement needs to be sorted can u help me with that as ur one was bit quicker than others when did u applied or send ur petition i have send mine last Friday which was 5th of April how long do u think its gonna take its a mutual uncontested divorce...???
Can u help plx

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Franky2000 · 13/04/2019 01:13

Hi i am very confused now some people are saying its taking up to 8-12 months in BSE but some have said i can get my divorce in 5months if both parties are agree and no financial settlement needs to be sorted can u help me with that as ur one was bit quicker than others when did u applied or send ur petition i have send mine last Friday which was 5th of April how long do u think its gonna take its a mutual uncontested divorce...???
Can u help plx

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Franky2000 · 13/04/2019 01:15

Goobergrapejelly...???

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