Cheap divorce when it's unreasonable behaviour

[flamencia]

It's looking very likely I'll be getting a divorce.

Assuming we can agree to split finances fairly, our divorce would likely be petitioned on unreasonable behaviour as we won't want to live apart two years prior to it. Mainly because I want to get moving with the house sale so I can get a new place.

If I were to go for unreasonable behaviour and by some miracle my DW agreed to it, or counterpetitioned me for my unreasonable behaviour, could we still do it DIY and cheaply? Or do you need solicitors to thrash out the unreasonable behaviour?

The cost of a full solicitor divorce would wipe out my share of the house equity and leave me back at square one so I'm hoping to avoid that.

Are you still on speaking terms? If so, try and agree who will petition and what the reasons will be in advance. Remember that it doesn't really matter what the stated reasons are, they don't get announced to the world. If you read some of the threads on here you'll see that they can be fairly inoffensive, such as not wanting to spend time together.

I didn't think that would be possible when I posted it, but things have thawed slightly so that might be doable. I was pretty sure she'd fly off the handle at me being the petitioner at first and contest it but maybe she won't. Or maybe I'll just let her petition against me just to get it done.

So if we use unreasonable behaviour and the other party doesn't dispute it we can still do the diy route?

Yes you can. You will need a solicitor if you are going to have a consent order drawn up though as you can't do them yourself.

Okay, thanks for your help. A consent order will probably be needed but I don't mind paying out essentially solicitor's fees.