If an agreement cannot be reached at the First Appointment, the Court will make Directions on the following areas:
Step 4 – Final Hearing
If an agreement cannot be reached beforehand the matter will be determined by a Final Hearing.
Prior to the Final Hearing, the following needs to be done: -
At the hearing, both parties will give evidence in person to the Court as to their financial circumstances and a Judge will then make a decision as to how the marital assets are to be divided.
Step 5 – Court Order
If an overall agreement is reached by the parties, this can be recorded in a Consent Application and this is then filed at Court. If the Judge considering the matter approves the agreement reached, this will then be formalised as a Consent Order. This will then be used to regulate how the marital assets are to be divided.
In the absence of an agreement and the case having to be determined via a Final Hearing, an Order will be made by the Judge dealing with the hearing. This Order will be drawn up by the Court and sent out to both parties.
Again, once this Order has been made, this will be used to regulate how the marital assets are to be divided.