Joint Petition Divorce

1.	To dissolve a marriage, most husband and wife choose to divorce by way of mutual consent under Section 52 of Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976. This is the cheapest and fastest way to have a divorce.	Generally cost a few thousands depends on solicitors.
2.	Section 52 of Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 states that:- “If husband and wife mutually agree that their marriage should be dissolved they may after the expiration of two years from the date of their marriage present a joint petition accordingly and the court may, if it thinks fit, make a decree of divorce on being satisfied that both parties freely consent, and that proper provision is made for the wife and for the support, care and custody of the children, if any, of the marriage, and may attach such conditions to the decree of divorce as it thinks fit.”
3.	In order to have a divorce by way of mutual consent, the husband and wife shall:- Married for atleast 2 years; Agree to dissolve the marriage; If there is any children, the custody, care, support and maintenance of the children must be agreed. Sometimes, the husband and wife may want to have joint custody which means both parties have equal say to the children; and Agree on the maintenance of the wife and matrimonial property.	The duration of the negotiation of the terms depends of how fast the parties could agree. It make just take 5 minutes or sometimes years.
4.	Once the terms have been agreed, the appointed solicitors will prepare the necessary cause papers for the parties to execute and/or affirmed.	Most solicitors take a few days to two weeks to prepare the cause papers.
5.	If the cause papers are in order, the solicitors will file the same to the court. The court may give a hearing date which is normally 2 weeks to 2 months from the date of filing.	It is online filing.
6.	At the hearing date, the husband and wife need to attend court. Lawyer’s maybe require to read to the Judge on the terms which the husband and wife are seeking. The court may ask the parties whether they agreed to the terms stated in the cause papers. As long as the terms are reasonable and in accordance to law, the court will grant the divorce. If either or both parties fail to attend Court during the hearing date the court may give another date or if with good reason the present of the absent party maybe dispense with. Good reason must be given in the form of affidavit which the lawyer will assist the parties to prepare the same.	The hearing date is normally within 2 weeks to 2 months from the filing date There maybe more than 50 husband and wife and going for the hearing for divorce in for one day. Normally it may take a few minute for the judge to grand the order.
7.	If all the requirements are meet, the court may grant decree nisi and thereafter to become absolute within 3 months from the date of hearing. The court may at the parties request and with good reason shorten the said 3 months period to obtain decree absolute. Example of good reason is when:- If there has a third party partner carrying the child of the husband; or The wife is pregnant and the baby belongs to other man. Only, with decree absolute the parties are officially divorced.	Section 61 of Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.
8.	In the nutshell, the parties shall:- Agreed on the terms (as stated in paragraph 3) Attend court once and inform the court that they have agreed to the terms From the date of filing until you get official divorce will take about 1 month to 6 months.
9.	In terms of cost for divorce of mutual consent as it is generally simpler and the solicitor just need to attend court once. logically it will not be expensive.