Former partner went to involve court, as anticipated (8)
I believe the answer is:
expected
'anticipated' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'former partner went to involve court' is the wordplay.
'former partner' becomes 'ex' (an ex-partner).
'went' becomes 'peed' (both can mean urinated).
'to involve' indicates putting letters inside (inserted letters get involved).
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'peed' going around 'ct' is 'pected'.
'ex'+'pected'='EXPECTED'
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for expected that I've seen before include "Awaited - required" , "Seen as likely to happen" , "Looked forward to" , "Apprehended" , "Thought of as coming" .)