How to serve the divorce papers

[Nat1010]

Hi
Can anyone please advise on the best way to serve the papers when you are acting without a lawyer? Also, at what point after completing the online petition and payment do you need to arrange that? (Unless it’s done by the court, of course).
Thank you in advance!

England? Court does it for you.

Yes, England. Do you happen to have any idea about the timescales after submitting the petition? I presume it needs to be accepted first. Do I have any control over the day he is served? I’d like to avoid it being his day with the kids 😕

The Court will serve the papers, but if he doesn't acknowledge, you need either to arrange personal service through a process server, or if that isn't feasible, ask the Court for substituted service (service by another method, like WhatsApp or Messenger) or deemed service (say if you have proof he got them but is ignoring them, like an email from him referring to the papers.)

No, you don't have any control, and timescales can be hard to predict.

When you apply online, the acknowledgement goes in the post, the respondent (person receiving the divorce papers) will be given a code to log onto the portal and sign to accept they gave read the acknowledgement and agree to the reasons of divorce.

If the person does not sign it you have to wait 28 days then apply to the court using a d11 service deemed form. This turns the divorce into a paper divorce. You can then either fill out the d11 with proof they have received it such as WhatsApp message, Facebook. Provide as much information as possible it's up to the judge whether they accept it.

If not then the next step is to find a process server or use the courts to serve then provide that as proof with your new d11 filled out. However you really don't want to go down this route as it takes them 1 month to get to the judge then 3 months for a judge to even look at it and sign it before you can proceed speaking from experience.

It also turns your online divorce into a paper one.

Thank you, this is ever so helpful!
My god, if they want to drag it out it sounds like there will be plentiful opportunity...

@Nat1010 can I ask what grounds you are divorcing under? My husband was divorcing his ex under 5 years separation. If you think you ex will contest and you haven't filed under unreasonable behaviour or 5 years separation I would wait for no fault divorce to come in April where it can't be contested.

For a number of reasons I cannot wait till April, but thank you for the suggestion.
Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic, and once he has actually realised it’s happening he will take a more reasonable approach (here’s some wishful thinking!)
Ps on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour.

@Nat1010 if it is under the grounds of unreasonable behaviour then you should be able to still proceed as this would be expected that your ex would not sign due to unreasonable behaviour. In this case all you would have to do is prove service has been deemed.

If you apply online then your ex has 7 days to respond which you can see via the portal. If 28 days has passed then the court has a phone line or live chat to tell you the next step which would be proving service is deemed.

We filled the form and attached screenshot of the WhatsApp chats showing that ex refused to sign, also they should be able to see if someone has logged onto the online portal which they could.

I really hope they sign for you, good luck (ps the form is £50). If you need any help of advice let me know we did husbands all DIY

@Shibby585 thank you, you sound like you have a wealth of kbowledge on this! I’ll definitely take you up on your offer, thanks again

No problem we did it all DIY so if you need any help let me know. Not sure if you can message don't use it often but if you can just pop me a message if needs be :)

It's exactly as Shibby describes. Just been through it. Was just under a week for them to tell me it had been accepted, and a week for papers to land on the mat.I didn't enjoy the wait either. But I told him it was coming.