Legally divorced?

It all depends on whether there are children involved and whether the parties are in agreement about finances.

There is no absolute need for either party to use a Solicitor.
My divorce took place many years after my husband and myself separated. It was done totally on line - for both of us - costing far less, no swearing anything in front of anybody.
Received both Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute in the post.

You are divorced legally

I do have both Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute but I guess I wondered if from the point of view of the solicitor it was legal to have 'advised' both parties at the time. I was very young and gullible at the time and feel that my best interest was not the priority at the time. Too late now anyway so it is all academic and I really wanted to know from a qualified lawyer/Gransnet member. Thanks.

It makes no difference to the legality of the divorce if you use the same solicitor, different ones or none at all. What Dee is talking about is the inadvisability from the solicitor’s point of view of acting for both parties because he has a conflict of interest.

I worked in the matrimonial dept' of a solicitors office some time ago and we had the direction that it was not allowed. The reason given was that there is a conflict of interest between the husband and the wife which makes it impossible; even a potential rather than an actual conflict would render it difficult.
It could be that when advising or drafting an order, the solicitor needs to advise one party that the agreement is not in their best interests. If the solicitor is acting for both of them, which party would he advise? He cannot advise both.

Of course this may have changed and it could have just been best practice etc.
You could check with the law society?

As someone else posted, if you have both decrees, you are divorced!

Check online, some search sites offer a free trial, others charge but it is a small amount. I do not see why you wouldn’t be divorced because you used the same solicitor.

I got divorced online, had no need for a solicitor.

The thing is, one of you can use a solicitor, but the other doesn't necessarily need to have one, so perhaps that was the way it worked if your divorce was amicable. Then you split the costs between you ?
Perhaps it may be an idea to go back to which solicitor that you engaged - even if that actual person no longer works for the business, your papers may well have still been kept in archive.

You should have a Decree Nisi which was issued and then about 6 months later a Decree Absolute. These should have involved you swearing in front of your solicitor. I remember because my solicitor lost my Decree Nisi and because more than 6 months had elapsed I had to swear again asserting that I hadn't had any more children since the DN was issued.

Don't you have your divorce papers?

There is no law that says you cannot use the same solicitor, just generally, because so many divorces end in acrimonious arguments about money and access, the parties involved are advised to use different solicitors.