The divorce proceeding starts with a form called a petition for divorce. The legal grounds for the divorce are adultery by the husband or wife, unreasonable behaviour by any one of them, desertion for a period of two years, two-year separation if they both agree to divorce and five-year separation if they do not have consent. The parties should provide a proof for the above-mentioned reasons and should convince the court that the marriage has irretrievably broken down.



The duration to get a divorce cannot be guessed by anyone as it varies from court to court in each case. During the proceedings, many problems may arise which may cause the delay. Normally, the settlement of terms regarding the safeguard of finance and children will consume more time. If the court is satisfied with the grounds, it will grant the decree nisi, and only the decree absolute is irreversible.

The couples can opt for separation agreement when they want to settle the terms amicably. It is also an order of court which is binding on both the parties prior to the grant of actual divorce decree. The agreement will break the marital commitments between them. It provides scope to the couples to resolve the prospective disputes through discussion and mutual consent so as to avoid unnecessary mental agony between them.

The agreement normally deals with the child maintenance payment, spousal maintenance, disposal of marital home or transferring the title, other financial settlements such as life insurance policies, pension sharing, stocks and shares, cars and other vehicles.

People very often confuse that if they have got separation agreement that in itself is equivalent to divorce, but, in reality, separation agreement is not a divorce. Divorce is termination of marriage through the judgment of court. The agreement is a means to get divorce through which the divorce process will get simplified. Because, normally to grant divorce, the court will also look at other issues that demand discussion and settlement before divorce is granted.

It cannot be said that all the disputes are resolved once the agreement is made. The court is the final authority and it has the power to turn down the agreement at any point of time, if it thinks that the agreement is not reasonable to either of the parties. The agreement is resorted to mostly when the parties are not interested to apply for divorce straightaway, but want to settle the important issues amicably.

If the couple has an understanding between them, the process of getting the agreement is very easy. The agreement is also available online. In later stages, the agreement may get merged into the divorce judgment. In that case, all the terms and conditions in the agreement will be included in the order.

Though some of the divorces will not take much delay, most of the divorces are very difficult to obtain which might take a few months to several years. It only depends on the cooperation between both the parties, and separation agreements pave the way for that.

The period of separation does not always mean breakdown of relationship. For some couples, it might be a time for rejuvenating their relationship. It would be like a healthy break and the separation may help them to understand each other.

The separation agreements do not have any provision to make the parties to resume their marital life or reconciliation. The separation agreement will become void if the parties reconcile and reunite. If the parties believe that they might get back to their spouses over a period of time in the future, then they should make the separation agreement in such a way that it accommodates necessary clauses for reconciliation. Courts very often prolong divorce proceedings to provide room for mediation and counselling unless any one of the spouses asks for dissolution.

Thus, a marital separation can be done either amicably, or else after some struggle in the court. While the process of separation offers leverage for reconciliation among the parties, if the dispute between them becomes irretrievably irreconcilable, the better option is to get divorce. Of course, the choice lies with the couple to decide on the suitable proposition depending on their need.