Fiji - Obtain Divorce Decree

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Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. The Divorce Decree is issued by the Fiji Judicial Department. Contacts
2. The couple willing to apply for divorce must file the divorce application at the nearest Registry Court.
3. The Dissolution of Marriage Application form must be obtained from the legal practitioner or else you can download it from the website. Application Form
4. Make sure that you have all the documents that are mentioned in the “Required Documents” section of this page.
5. After filing the application, the notice must be sent to the other partner.
6. If the application is filed together, then the couple must proceed the application to the Magistrate court of Decree.
7. If any one of the partner disagrees to the information given in the divorce application, then the case will be forwarded to the Supreme Court.
8. For filing the case in Supreme Court, the couples will need separate Lawyers to move the case further.
9. The applicant for a divorce decree is required to prove that the grounds for divorce provided in his / her submitted divorce papers are true.
10. The couple must have lived at least 12 months apart from each other preceding the date of the filing of the application.
11. If the couple meet all the requirements, and the court is satisfied that proper arrangements are made for children under 18 years. The couple will be given conditional order.
12. Visa application form must be submitted to the Director of Immigration Department for overseas application.
13. If you dispute some of the facts or Law in the judgement for dissolution of marriage, you can lodge an appeal but you must do this before the Final Order is granted. You must file your appeal by filling out Notice of Appeal form and file it in the Court Registry which issued the Order you are appealing against. Appeal Form
14. The conditional order becomes final after 1 month and one day under the following conditions.
    • On the day on which the order would have become final no appeal should have been instituted.
    • A condition order does not become final by virtue of this section, if either of the parties to the marriage has died.
15. The Final Order will be issued by the Court one month and one day after the date of your Conditional Order.
16. The applicants can re-marry after the Final Order is granted.
17. The process will take two months to 4 months.
    

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Required Documents

• Proof of marriage.
• Proof / evidence of existence of stated grounds for divorce for instance police reports, doctor’s reports or any other proof.
  • For instance, in cases of cruelty or violence, the applicant must present evidence like police report (if at any time partner was violent and case was reported to police),
  • Doctors report (in cases where the partner was violated and went for medical examination) or a witness (present at any one time when a person was violated by partner) may be brought to court to support case,
  • In cases of insanity, a doctor’s report may also be required and any other proof may be presented to support case.
• Appeal Form
  

Office Locations & Contacts

Judicial Department of Fiji
Government Buildings Suva, Fiji
Phone: (679) 3211 362
Fax: (679) 3300 674
Address link

Registrar General
Office of the Registrar General / Office of the Attorney General
Crown Law Office
P.O Box 2213, Suva, Fiji
Telephone: (011) 679-211-598
Address link

Eligibility

• Any legally married persons can apply for divorce and must have reasonable grounds for applying for divorce.
• To end the marriage, the couple must be separated for 12 months before you can formally apply for a divorce.
• An order for dissolution of marriage will not be made, if the court is satisfied that there is a reasonable likelihood of cohabitation being resumed.
• An order for dissolution of the marriage must be based on the ground that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
  

Fees

SCHEDULE OF FEES MAGISTRATES COURT FEE(S) [VIP]

• Application for Dissolution of Marriage FJ$57.50
• Responses to Form 1 FJ$57.50
• Application for Final Orders FJ $57.50
• Appeal from Magistrates Court to High Court FJ$115
• Sealing Orders by Registry FJ$7.50
• Affidavit  No Fee
  

SCHEDULE OF FEES HIGH COURT [inclusive of VAT]

• Application for Dissolution of Marriage FJ$115.00
• Responses to Form 1 FJ$115.00
• Application for Final Orders FJ$115.00
• Application for Dissolution of Marriage FJ$115.00
• Appeal from High Court to Fiji Court of Appeal FJ$230.00
• Sealing orders by Registry FJ$14.95
• Affidavit of service form No Fee
  

Validity

• The validity of the divorce decree is forever as long as both parties are alive.
• The divorce decree can lose its validity if the divorced parties decide to get married.
  

Documents to Use

• Dissolution of Marriage Application Form
  
• Appeal Application Form
  

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

The process will take two months to 4 months.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Divorce decree is applied for by only the parties in married, either husband or wife;
• Before applying for divorce, ensure that the reasons you have are strong enough;
• It is advisable that couples who wish to divorce seek legal advice and counseling before making a final decision;
• To obtain a divorce decree, applicants are advised to always follow procedures applicable to their type of marriage (Customary, religious or civil marriage);
• No matter which procedures are adopted, the district registrar should always be notified about any divorce occurrence;
• Partners may decide to stay together or stay separate, if application for divorce is submitted;
• Applicants with cases of adultery, dissertation or cruelty must present evidence or get a witness to support them;
• Applicants must be separated for at least twelve (12) months prior to formerly applying for divorce.
  

Required Information

• Name and address of applicant
• Name and address of partner
• Period of marriage
• Reason for applying for divorce
• Type of marriage to be dissolved
• Details of children if any
  

Need for the Document

• Divorce is a legal ending of any legal marriage.
• A divorce decree is a final order given by a court to complete divorce proceedings and it is usually signed by a judge.
• Like in any other country, in Fiji a divorce decree is obtained from court.
  

Information which might help

If any of the partners is not satisfied with any decisions made by court, he / she can file an appeal I court and in any case the appeal must be filed before the final order (Divorce Decree Absolute) is issued in the court registry that issued the Divorce Decree Nisi
Appeal Form – Application Form

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses for obtaining this document/certificate.
E.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Fiji Judiciary Online Portal - Website

Others

More information which might help people.