HMSC court forms, any problems completing them? En

Dear Wiki peeps,

Wiki grows day by day and increasingly people are following the DIY divorce route without a lawyer.

One common problem they have is completing court forms, can any of you give Wiki your experience of this?.

Did you find one particular form difficult to complete, can you tell us which part and what the problem was and how you found the answer?.

It doesn't have to be an in depth answer you could just reply you could just reply,

D8a

or

Petition for unreasonable behaviour

If you have a bit more time you could tell us which section of the form they all are numbered.

All answers will be gratefully received, the aim is for Wiki to write in depth guides for all the relevant forms, this will take time so if you can help identify the most problematic we can all help others having the same problem.

Many thanks Dukey.

Dukes,

The forms as with everything else in family law are so different up here! The most difficult issue for DIY divorce in Scotland IME is the lack of perspicacious information illustrating that E/W family law is very different to Scots family law

E

Very true Elle i will ask Wiki Scotland to run another thread so it doest:) lead to any confusion



Dukey

Anyone?

Hi
I completed my forms. I did meet with a solicitor in advance, who suggested that I could do it myself returning for ad-hoc advice, I've returned once so far to discuss finances. Overall quite straight forward, causing me to question what additional service others pay for, on the other hand there were occassions where I struggled and needed to refer to Wiki for clarification of expectations.

Unfortunately I didn't keep notes from the completion process so any issues need to be recalled from memory. Please feel free to review my postings to see what questions I asked. In summary I managed with the combination of the Wiki overview, Court leaflets plus forum for specifics.

One element I found especially helpful was visiting my local court and collecting a Divorce pack from them. This gave me the relevant forms and guidance, no more, no less, so I knew what was required at that time and was not daunted by forms I didn't need to complete. Once completed they also checked for omissions so I knew at least I'd filled in all the relevant fields.

One thing I would have liked would have been up to date electronic forms that could have been completed and saved on my pc. The HMCS forms were in Acrobat format, whilst reasonably well laid out, could not be saved. The Wiki forms, whilst possible to edit, did not match the court forms so I was reluctant to use them.

D8
P.1
- might have helped if it had been clear that Case reference number would not be available at this point.
- 1b - possibly the biggest stumbling block. The form suggested that Maiden Name was required, whereas leaflet D184 illustrated married name, I went with the latter.
- 3 - I was not clear of distinction between "Habitually resident" and "Domiciled" (as prescribed in D8 Notes, perhaps a Divorce Dictionary might have helped).
- 5 - Children - guidance is not explicit on the exclusion of children that are now over 18 years old.

p.3
- 13 (Particulars) - perhaps it might have helped if I'd known how much, or little, needed to be stated to support grounds for divorce. Ultimately I checked Wiki for examples.

p.5 Prayer
- 2 - Costs - could have been clearer on the impact of (the respondents) legal aid on the merits of claiming costs.
- 3 - Ancillary Relief - I refered to Wiki at this stage, I knew I didn't want to claim myself but didn't know if I should leave open for the respondent to claim as expected.

D8A - Statement of Arrangements for Children
p.5
- 7a. - Maintenance - this section appears to assume that the respondent will be paying maintenance.

p.6
- 8 - Contact - this section appears to assume that any children remain living with the Petitioner.

Once the Petition and Statement of Arrangements were submitted to the court, subsequent forms (D80A and D84) were not a problem, although I recall having to ask at the court office what to enter on D80A page 3 items 3, 4, 5 (respondent's signature). Having saved copies of any previous documentation was necessary to repeat the same information.

form E - work in progress. Might be less daunting if it were clearer that not every section is applicable. As with many things, preparation has been the key. Currently paused before I return to establishing future income needs.

Hope this gives you something to start on.

dukey wrote:

Very true Elle i will ask Wiki Scotland to run another thread so it doest:) lead to any confusion
Dukey

Thanks

E

Form H costs.

Some of us are self repping and using solicitor on ad hoc basis. There are no clear instructions (that I can see) of how to complete Form H if you want to claim for the "expert" advice you've received in AR proceedings.

Important to know especially if there's deliberate non disclosure/or wasting court's time and an order is sought for costs to date against the other party.