[Divorce] The Steps of Getting a Divorce (Unilateral)
Unilateral Divorce
Under what circumstances would one want a unilateral divorce?
Most cases are:
1. Only one party wants to divorce, and the other party does not agree;
2. Although the other party agrees to divorce, but they could not come into an agreement on the terms & conditions of the divorce;
3. Lost contact with the other party.
The Statutory Grounds of Unilateral Divorce
Nonetheless, there are 4 grounds for applying to the court for unilateral divorce under the law of Malaysia:
1. The spouse is having an affair;
2. The spouse has an unreasonable behavior that makes it impossible for the two to continue to get along;
3. The spouse has abandoned the other for at least two years; or
4. The parties have been separated for more than two years.
Procedure for Applying for Unilateral Divorce
First, the party who wants to apply for a divorce needs to go to the Marriage and Divorce Division of the National Registration Department (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara, JPN) and fill out a form to apply for marriage counseling.
Once the application is submitted, the relevant departments will arrange counseling dates and conduct 3 counseling sessions on different dates. This process will take 4 to 6 months.
If the marriage reconciliation result finds that the marriage is irreversible, the relevant departments will issue a marriage breakdown certificate (KC29).
Once you have this certificate, you can hire a lawyer to begin the unilateral divorce procedure.
There will be two situations:
If the other party does not attend the whole process, the judge will generally grant your divorce request;
If the other party asks a lawyer to defend, you can choose to negotiate the conditions or directly file a lawsuit, and let the judge make the final decision.
After the judgment is completed, you can get the divorce certificate issued by the court. There will be a three-month cooling-off period.
After the cooling-off period ends, the divorce becomes effective.
And your marital status at the National Registration Office will be updated from ‘married’ to ‘divorced’ within three months.
The above are the basic procedures for unilateral divorce. If you have other questions about unilateral divorce, please check out our next article, we will discuss various situations and other issues related to unilateral divorce.
Then see you in the next article!