DIY divorce-unreasonable behaviour. Please help.

My partner has been separated for over 3 years and had agreed with his ex to divorce amicably on the grounds of 2 years separation with consent. When she received the divorce petition she refused to sign although she had already paid half of the divorce costs. My partner is now considering amending the divorce petition to divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour. Am I right in thinking that if she fails to return the acknowledgement of service form (based on unreasonable behaviour) we could then get a court bailiff to serve her and once there is proof she has been served the papers the divorce can then go ahead and be granted without her permission? But if she decided to contest the divorce based on unreasonable behaviour, what would happen then? Would it go to a hearing and what are the chances of a divorce being granted? There are no financial issues involved but there are 2 children from the marriage. A CSA money agreement has been set up, by my partner, so there is a record of maintenance payments and the statement of arrangements for the children states that the children visit each weekend and for time in school holidays (this has been the arranement for the last 15 months). Please can anyone advise me?

If they don't return the papers, a bailiff will go out (extra small fee) and serve the papers.

It will count, but not sure what happens if they disagree. My ex agreed with divorce but disagreed with statement of arrangements, it didn't go to court though, I still got the Decree Nisi without attending. I found the courts were very helpful, if I could get through on the phone!

I could be wrong, but I thought that with unreasonable behaviour they had a certain amount of time to come back with their counter argument for the grounds stated and then you 'negotiate' what is acceptable to both parties. I'm not a legal bod though...

thank you both for your replies, spyder and superglue. It is all very confusing and I would welcome advice from anyone who is going through or has been through a similar situation please.
Spyder, how long did your divorce take as your ex disagreed with the statments and how easy was that to rectify please?

Divorce went through quite quickly. He agreed to divorce as he was seeing other woman. There was a delay with the courts amount of paperwork but nothing major. I first went in May to present petition, petition had to be served three times to him before he replied, got nisi in October. Mine is a bit different because he lives abroad.

The court completely ignored the fact that he had disagreed with the statements and agreed with mine - but again, cos be because he is out the country. I have not used solicitors either, as he had already hidden away the money and I just wanted out.

You need advice really. I'm not sure amending the petition to different grounds would be wise at this stage. If I were you, I'd go with the bailiff - it's only about £40 and hope that they don't argue the case. As the original petition is 2yrs with consent, and she no longer consents, you may have a big problem. Would she divorce him on grounds of adultery? If what you want is the divorce, do the grounds really matter?

Thanks spyder. No, the grounds don't matter at all, as long as we get the divorce. The problem is she is using the divorce as a bargaining tool-if we do this/that then she will sign. She isn't a nice person and just wants to mess up our lives so there is no way she will sign, under any circumstances, so our only option is to now go with the unreasonable behaviour and if she contests, hope that the judge will grant the divorce or if she fails to return the acknowledgement of service, then get a bailiff to serve her. Is it right that in this instance, once service is proved, we can then apply for the nisi without her permission?

Hello

Yes once you have service the Nisi will be granted once the Judge has accepted the petition.