Simple DIY divorce - crossing out ancillary relief items?

[ChangingWoman]

MNers with legal knowledge or divorce experience:

Is anyone able to explain in simple terms why I should (or shouldn't) leave the "ancillary relief" items in the petition?

We've decided to divorce, it's amicable and we're completely agreed on children and financial issues. We earn similar amounts and will each be keeping the assets which are already in our names and splitting the remaining debts.

I thought that this would make things relatively simple but when I've downloaded the petition for us to look at, I'm not sure how to deal with the section on "ancillary relief".

Reading around the guidance notes and various divorce internet sites, everyone generally recommends against crossing out the items in this section.

But if they don't apply to us at all (neither of us wants to claim anything from the other through the courts) then by leaving them in wouldn't we just be creating more unnecessary bureaucracy, delay and potential to fall out during the divorce process?

NB We don't have much money and if we can avoid it, we don't want to involve solicitors.

Thank you!

Keep them in. You can't ask for a consent order without it. A consent order can be as simple as dismissing the potential claims that each of you can bring against the other. It's fairly standard.

BTW all the forms are changing from 6 April.

Thanks Collaborate, including for the heads up re 6 April. (I'd vaguely heard something relevant in the news but stupidly didn't make the connection.)

So, at the moment, leaving all these items in would better enable us to get a "clean break" than crossing them out? Does it necessarily mean additional court procedures and filling in more forms?

If things are likely to be changing significantly in the next few weeks, it sounds like we should wait to see the new forms before we take this any further. Hopefully they will be clearer...

If you tick the ancillary relief boxes all the options are left open, it doesn't mean you are applying to start court proceedings. When you submit the consent order for a clean break to court you then just complete Form A marked "For Dismissal"

You don't even need a formA for a consent order.

Perhaps I' wrong but my understanding is using Form A depends on the practice adopted by local courts.

Agree, leave it in, you have to keep the door open.
Also agree that whether or not you need a Form A depends on the Court/DJ.
At my local Court the DJ always insisted on a Form A for dismissal purposes.

You don't need to dismiss the respondents claim if no firm A is lodged. You can still remove the right to apply without a form A.

Indeed, however one (pedantic) DJ always insisted on a Form A being lodged

Where I practice we have a court clerk who thinks he's been appointed a judge. His latest (today) is that I can't swap the former solicitor's c/o address for service with my own, as you can't have a c/o address for service. As if by putting c/o make it cease to be an address. He simply rejects things he thinks are wrongly completed, even though judges have no problem with them.

ah, I knew one like that once