The reasons behind your dissolution will almost never have an effect on the financial outcome. Money is dealt with on a largely “no fault” basis, except in circumstances where misconduct has been very extreme or has led to an objectively significant financial consequence.

There are time limits for responding to an application, which should be complied with. In some cases - for example, if there is a choice of jurisdictions in which the dissolution could take place - these time limits can be crucially important. If you have been served with a dissolution application, get in touch and we’ll work with you to identify the next steps.

This is the first of two orders in the proceedings. The person who began the proceedings confirms the contents of their application within a simple form and requests the court to grant the conditional order, usually online.

For dissolutions starting before 6 April 2022, this application can be made as soon as the party to whom the application has been sent has confirmed receipt via an acknowledgement of service, or alternative arrangements have been approved by the court.

For dissolutions starting after 6 April 2022, the application can be made from 20 weeks after the start (issuing) of proceedings, provided service has been effected. Note also that couples dissolving their civil partnership from 6 April 2022 can apply jointly for the dissolution and the conditional order. Options exist for cases that begin as joint applications but can no longer proceed in this way.

Provided all the forms are in order and no technical problems are identified, the court will set a date for making the conditional order, which just means reading it out in court. It is only in rare cases that either party has to be present for this. Once a conditional order has been granted, the court has the power to make a financial order dealing with the money, whether this has been reached by agreement or following a contested court process.

This is the second of two orders in the proceedings. Once the conditional order has been granted, the person who began proceedings can apply for the final order six weeks and one day later. For dissolutions starting from 6 April 2022, this can be done by a sole applicant or the parties jointly if the applications for dissolution and conditional order were made jointly.

In most cases, clients will be advised to delay applying for the final order until an order dealing with the financial aspects of the dissolution has been approved by the court. Once the final order has been granted, the civil partnership comes to an end and is said to be ‘dissolved’.

Only the court can grant dissolutions but, in reality, the process takes place either online or by paperwork passing between the parties and the court. Only a tiny minority of cases need substantive input from a judge and very few couples actually have to attend court to deal with the dissolution itself.

You can agree the financial aspects of separation without dissolving your civil partnership using a separation agreement, but the only way to get a final and binding settlement is to obtain a financial court order after the conditional order has been granted within the civil partnership dissolution proceedings. This financial order can either be agreed by the parties or decided by a judge after a contested court process.

The court order must be approved by a judge otherwise it is not valid. It then becomes legally binding at the point of the final order in dissolution proceedings.

We normally anticipate that the procedure from application to final order will take just over six months. In most cases, clients are advised to delay their final order until a financial order has been approved by the court. As financial negotiations and/or contested proceedings can take some time, particularly if a case is complex, this can mean that the dissolution takes longer.

The final order dissolving or bringing to an end a civil partnership is publicly accessible. The document shows the parties’ names, the date and venue at which their civil partnership was formed and the date of the final order. Documents from dissolutions that started before 6 April 2022, specifying the reasons for the breakdown of the civil partnership or the fact on which the dissolution was based are not generally available.

If you cannot find your final order and need to obtain an official copy, there are a variety of options, depending on what details you have. Start with the government website.

In most cases, a couple who were in a civil partnership and have received the final order dissolving their civil partnership cannot undo this. If they wish to be in a civil partnership once again (or marry), they will need to go through a fresh ceremony as if for the first time. 

Before the final order stage, the parties can halt the dissolution of their civil partnership if they have reconciled. The exact procedure will depend on what stage the process has reached. If a conditional order has been granted already, there is a specific application that must be made.

The court can set aside a conditional or, occasionally, a final order when there is a serious problem with the process or with the civil partnership itself. This includes cases of fraud, or where there are legal problems with the civil partnership that call its actual existence into question. Occasionally, either party may argue that the civil partnership has already been dissolved in another country. 

If this could be an issue, or if there are issues generally as to which country’s courts should deal with the case, you need to take immediate, specialist advice from us as the consequences of getting things wrong can be substantial. Visit our page on jurisdiction for more guidance.

The answer depends on whether your dissolution proceedings started before or after 6 April 2022.

Dissolutions starting (issued) before 6 April 2022

If someone has applied for a civil partnership dissolution using one of the fault ‘facts’ - behaviour or desertion - they can recover a proportion of their legal costs, including the court fee. There is very little point in debating the amount of costs claimed through the courts as it is disproportionate to the sums involved. For that reason, we always advise our clients to negotiate an agreed figure for costs. Remember that when we talk about costs here we mean only those associated with preparing and progressing the dissolution.

A dissolution application based on two or five years’ separation will almost always result in each party bearing their own costs, unless they agree to something different.

Dissolutions starting (issued) on or after 6 April 2022

In keeping with the no fault ethos, few dissolutions taking place under the new law will result in a costs order. The parties are of course free to agree how the legal costs and the court fee will be shared between themselves.

Separate applications for costs may be made where one party has behaved unreasonably (e.g. by avoiding service) or has raised technical arguments about jurisdiction or the validity of the civil partnership that prove unsuccessful. This will be the exception rather than the rule.

For all cases

Any costs associated with finances and child arrangements are dealt with separately from the dissolution. The general rule is that the parties are responsible for their own costs of taking legal advice.

Occasionally a party’s behaviour within the litigation will be such as to justify the making of a costs order. The legal precedents in this area are based on divorce cases but the principles apply equally to civil partnership dissolution.