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If Rob has disappeared forever, what happens now for Helen’s divorce?
I imagine she can say she has been ‘abandoned’ – but is there a time to wait first?
https://www.gov.uk/divorce-missing-husband-wife This explains what she has to do. Can still get divorced but a few hoops to jump through
Hmmm – Let’s assume that Ursula and Bruce are in contact with Rob in Minnesota, but he refuses to communicate with Helen. What next?
I thought the exact same thing Kiwi Listener!
There is a route to divorce if both parties have lived separately for two years, but I think it has to be five years if only one partner wants to do it in the others’ absence. Her original divorce application would have been on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour, though, not separation.
What I’m expecting is that Rob will magically reappear in Ambridge seeking reconciliation just before the end of the timespan for a no-fault separation type divorce, making that whole process incredibly complicated.
Long term plot prediction there!
ClaireIt’s less a case of what Helen does now and more a case of: “When will the scriptwriters wake up or follow a storyline through properly?!!”
To my recollection, Helen started divorce proceedings back in the autumn which led to Rob threatening to drag things out and defend the divorce. In the end he decided not to defend the divorce petition.
That ought to mean that Helen has already applied for a decree nisi and after that, a decree absolute. In the real world, she might already be divorced by now because it can take as little as a few months. The wheels were already in motion when Rob said he wouldn’t defend the divorce. It doesn’t matter that he has “disappeared”.
If he doesn’t defend the divorce she can apply for a decree nisi. It can take around 5 weeks for the court to pronounce a decree nisi. Then once she gets past that stage, she must wait for 6 weeks before applying for a decree absolute. When the decree absolute is obtained it’s officially all over.
The question that might be on her mind is what happens to the marital finances. That’s might be a bit more tricky …
Back in the autumn when there was divorce talk, it sounded as if Rob had spent most of the money that was in their joint account. However, it also sounded at the time as if Helen was worried he might pursue her interest in Bridge Farm. Sorting out finances after a divorce involving family businesses like farms can be very messy so I sympathise. And there hasn’t been any talk of child maintenance so I assume she doesn’t want any money from him to support Jack.
Somewhere along the line, Helen has also been involved in family proceedings regarding Jack (and Henry). I can’t remember whether it was, but I think it was a final order which granted a child arrangements order to Rob for him to spend time with Jack on a supervised basis at a contact centre but stated there should be no contact at all with Henry. So hopefully she doesn’t have to worry about that.
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