Co-respondent

---

title: "Co-respondent" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["family-law", "divorce", "english-law", "civil-procedure"] description: "Respondent to a petition in English law" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-respondent" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Respondent to a petition in English law ::

In English law, a co-respondent is, in general, a respondent to a petition, or other legal proceeding, along with another or others, or a person called upon to answer in some other way.

Divorce

More particularly, since the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, in a petition for divorce on the ground of adultery, a co-respondent is a person charged with misconduct with the petitioner's spouse.

, alleged parties to a spouse's adultery must be made co-respondents unless they are not named in the petition or the court directs otherwise.

In practice, naming such parties in a divorce petition is discouraged as it may become a barrier to reconciliation. Such parties are only commonly named if the petitioner is seeking costs against them or has some other particular reason.

References

Bibliography

• {{cite book |last=Bond |first=T |title=Family Law | edition=Blackstone Legal Practice Course Guides | publisher=Oxford University Press | location=Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-920545-5 | year=2007 |display-authors=etal |ref=
• {{cite book | author=The Law Society |author-link=The Law Society | title=Family Law Protocol | year=2006 | edition=2nd rev. | publisher=The Law Society | location=London | isbn=1-85328-984-1

References

1. {{harvp. Bond ''et al.''. 2007 '''7.4.19'''
2. {{cite EB1911
3. [[Family Procedure Rules]] SI1991/1247, [https://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1991/Uksi_19911247_en_3.htm#(T)27ie r.2.7(1)]
4. "Divorce Information".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::