Writing a Chronology

A chronology is one of the easier documents you need to prepare for the final hearing. There’s nothing to stop you from preparing one for the first hearing and updating it as you go along, but technically it isn’t required until the final hearing.

It will be put in the first section of your bundle.

What is a chronology?

A chronology is a list of key events in your marriage, in date order from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom.

Who writes the chronology?

The applicant writes the chronology unless the respondent is the only person with a lawyer. If the respondent has a lawyer and the applicant does not, the lawyer will do the first draft.

You and your ex should try to agree the contents of the chronology. It should not be used for arguments – it’s just a list of dates. You can clearly indicate on the document if any date is not agreed.

If you really can’t agree you can file separate documents.

What to put in the chronology

Download our chronology template here.

You need to add in the following things:

You can refer to yourself and your ex as husband and wife (if you are different sexes) or as applicant and respondent or even by your first names.

• When you and your ex were born

• When you and your ex started living together

• When you got married

• When your children were born

• When you separated (if you and your ex don’t agree this date, you can put ‘wife says parties separated’ as one entry and ‘husband says parties separated as a different entry’)

• The date of the divorce application

• The date of your conditional order (or the earliest date you or your ex can apply, if you don’t have one yet)

• The date of your final order (if you have one)

• The date of the financial remedy application

• The date you signed your form E

• The date your ex signed their form E

• The dates you and your ex signed any witness statements such as section 25 statements

• The date of previous court hearings related to the finances and a very brief summary of what the court ordered then

• Any other dates that are important to your case.  For example this might be  date when one of you changed job or sold a property or business or inherited something, or the date you bought the family home.