Please help!

[MadelineJamesu]

I'm replying as respondent to my stbxh and I need to know if I should ask the court to delay decree absolute until financial matters are resolved? Does this mean settling finances in court (we both agree at this stage we'd prefer to try mediation first). I just don't know whether to tick "delay" or not? Any help much appreciated! Xx

You don't need to delay the decree absolute.
I received mine in April 2020. My financial settlement wasn't finalised until Nov 2020.
They are 2 different matters.

There is no way I would finalise my divorce until the finances are sorted

You can divorce without the finances being settled but it's not recommended.

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. X

It says I need to complete "form b". Is this a form stating I want the court to decide?? I'm so confused 🤯

You can divorce without the decree absolute but it's not advisable

The process to settle financial matters effectively goes in between the nisi and applying for the absolute.

If it's helpful, I got my nisi in the March then spent an age faffing about sorting out the financials

Ours was easy so was a consent order creating clean break (done all the financial splitting a while before) plus the form D I think asking for the financial details.

Absolute granted in the January but it could have been much much quicker. This was via online divorce though consent order was paper based.

At this stage you should be only agreeing to the divorce by responding

I'd get advice from a family solicitor on the form b filling.

Sorry, no help with form B, but definitely tick delay. As said above, you do not want the absolute to go through until finances have been agreed.

@LeibnizQueen

At this stage you should be only agreeing to the divorce by responding

I'd get advice from a family solicitor on the form b filling.

I'm replying online on the Gov website and at the end it asks if I want to delay the absolute until finances are sorted, and if so, I'd need to complete a form b