Divorce in Scotland
 

I am the US citizen, my future husband is from Scotland. Has anyone recently divorced in Scotland? Can you give me a time line as how long it takes from the signing of consent till the divorce decree is issued. Also, does the decree get mailed to you or to your solicitor?

Any help in this area would be wonderful as no one in the courts or the solictors office seems to be moving fast enough or helpful. (and it is too late to change solicitors)

Thanks

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

Really sympathise with you. The divorce process took much longer than everything from 129F to interview date for me but was complicated by my ex forgetting to sign the papers and disappearing to Canada.

I can't tell you whether Scotland works the same as here in England but I can pass on a couple of tips that might help with slow solicitors - I had one of those!

Because I was using a solicitor everything was mailed to them. After I got the nisi I had to wait 6 weeks and 1 day to get the absolute. A few weeks after the nisi you have to fill in a form applying for the absolute. The absolute is then processed by the court on the first day it legally can. I knew this would mean a possible wait while the court passed the papers to my solicitor and then my solicitor got around to dealing with her post.

So I told my solicitor I wanted to pick up the absolute from the court myself. She uuumd and ahhhd then said it would be OK. I wasn't taking any chances. I told my solicitor not to mail my application for absolute to the court but I would take it there myself, which I did that same day. I explained to the receptionist at the court that I needed the absolute urgently for my immigration application, that I didn't want it sending to my solicitor, and I would be in personally to collect the it on the day it was due for issuing and, to make sure, asked her what time exactly I should turn up and collect it. She said midday should be fine.

The day before I was due to collect it I phoned the court to remind them I would be in at noon for my absolute. They had it ready and waiting at reception with my name on it. I took it straight to the nearest library and faxed it to my fiancé in Texas, who filed all his papers the next day.

I also posted him a copy of the absolute just in case the INS wouldn't accept the fax but there was absolutely no problem about it.

Hope that helps a little further down the line. Perhaps someone else can help you with the Scotland specifics.

Best of luck.
-=-
Scarlett

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

Thanks again for your post Scarlet. I have passed it on to my future husband for reference. I am not sure if the process is the same in England as Scotland, however any information is always helpful.

I am just amazed at how difficult it is to obtain a divorce. In New York, you can file after 1 year of legal separation. Scotland it is 2 years with consent and 5 years without. We are in year 3 and supposedly the consent was signed last week. Also in New York, the lawyers pick up the telephone and make a call to find out the status of situations. In Scotland we are constantly waiting for a letter in the mail (post)and then when you get it, it says nothing but that another letter has been sent to the opposing party to find out why they have not responded to the last letter Argggghhhhhhh

Sorry just venting....thanks for listening. Jill

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

Vent away - I really do understand your frustration on this one. My solicitor told me I couldn't ring the courts to find the status of my case. I ignored her and rang and they told me what was happening and when I could expect to hear more etc. With due respect to Folinskyinla and Mr Udall, both of whom get my vote for all their help here, some lawyers seem to enjoy mystifying things. As a British Citizen - Scottish or English - I would have thought your fiancé has every right to ask a British court for the status of his own case, whatever his solicitor might tell him.

Hoping things sort themselves out for you soon. I'm sorry for all the frustration you're going through.

Rgeards
-=-
Scarlett

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

"gracejilly" wrote in message
news:439182.1034248706@britishexpats-
.com...
    > I am the US citizen, my future husband is from Scotland. Has anyone
    > recently divorced in Scotland? Can you give me a time line as how long
    > it takes from the signing of consent till the divorce decree is issued.
    > Also, does the decree get mailed to you or to your solicitor?
    > Any help in this area would be wonderful as no one in the courts or the
    > solictors office seems to be moving fast enough or helpful. (and it is
    > too late to change solicitors)


OK - it's been a while since I dealt with one, but here is what I remember.



I AM NOT A LAWYER / SOLICITOR AND THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE.
THIS IS ONLY A COMMENT BASED ON MY PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE.



Once the defender has signed the papers and returned them to the court, the
papers are placed before the Sheriff. If the Sheriff is happy with what s/he
sees, then the Sheriff will sign the decree. (Should be no problems if the
defender signs the consent to divorce.

A letter is sent out to the two parties - pursuer and defender - advising
that divorce has been granted on date, and that their days of appeal
expire on date.

On date
the extract decree is posted out to the pursuer and defender, and a copy is
sent to the Registry office for recording.

Bingo! You're divorced!

I used to work in the Scottish courts system, which is how I know this
stuff. I have not, however, worked there for a number of years, so this
information may or may not still be current - I have no reason to believe
that this has or has not changed. I am, as I state above, NOT a lawyer /
solicitor, and this is NOT legal advice.

8-)


Hope this helps!


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Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

On Thu, 10 Oct 2002 14:40:24 +0000, gracejilly
wrote:

    >Thanks again for your post Scarlet. I have passed it on to my future
    >husband for reference. I am not sure if the process is the same in
    >England as Scotland, however any information is always helpful.
    >I am just amazed at how difficult it is to obtain a divorce. In New
    >York, you can file after 1 year of legal separation. Scotland it is 2
    >years with consent and 5 years without. We are in year 3 and supposedly
    >the consent was signed last week. Also in New York, the lawyers pick up
    >the telephone and make a call to find out the status of situations. In
    >Scotland we are constantly waiting for a letter in the mail (post)and
    >then when you get it, it says nothing but that another letter has been
    >sent to the opposing party to find out why they have not responded to
    >the last letter Argggghhhhhhh
    >Sorry just venting....thanks for listening. Jill

We went through that with Scotland, it seems once everything was
signed it was a matter of a few weeks before we got the decree needed
to send to NSC.
Karryl

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure
about the former."
-- - Albert Einstein

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

I wonder if the letter stating the divorce has been granted will be enough to send with my petition. Or must I wait for the decree.

Re: Divorce in Scotland
 

"gracejilly" wrote in message
news:439819.1034287765@britishexpats-
.com...
    > I wonder if the letter stating the divorce has been granted will be
    > enough to send with my petition. Or must I wait for the decree.


The letter stating the divorce has been granted has no legal standing - you
will need to wait for the extract decree (which will follow withi 2-3 weeks
after the letter anyway)....



As previously stated - not a lawyer, this is not legal advice...


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