If you have been served with an application you should carefully review the documents you have received. If it is a divorce proceeding for divorce alone, you may wish to ignore it and allow the divorce to proceed. If it is a general application for divorce it may include additional claims. If you do not agree with some of the claims being made or you wish to make your own claims, you should file an answer with the court. It would be a good idea to retain a lawyer to help you with your matter at this stage in the proceeding. Although you will have to file an answer, with the help of a lawyer you there may still be an opportunity to settle your matter without proceeding
further through court.
Sometimes an application may not refer to a divorce at all. This type of application is called a corollary relief proceeding and is similar to a divorce proceeding but occurs where either or both former spouses seek a child support order, spousal support order, or a custody order separately from the issue of divorce.
If your spouse has served you with an application that does not include a divorce and you wish to be divorced, you should claim a divorce in your answer. You can also ask the court to sever the proceedings if you wish to deal with the issue of the divorce separately. This division of proceedings allows parties to get a divorce before dealing with their financial and child related matters, or deal with their financial and child related matters first and leave the divorce for later.
