No-fault divorce

No-fault divorce

Many people feel the current divorce law is out of date, particularly following the 2018 Owens v Owens case where Mrs Owens was denied a divorce because she could not prove that her husband had behaved sufficiently unreasonably. Well, no longer will couples have to play ‘the blame game’! The government plans to reform the divorce process to remove the requirement for anyone wanting a divorce to have to claim the breakdown happened because the other party to the relationship was at fault in some way.

The government has just confirmed that it will go ahead with the planned changes by introducing new legislation – as yet there is no time-scale but watch this space.

Once the reforms are in place, a couple or one party would only need to notify the court that their marriage has irretrievably broken down. The ‘five facts’ would be removed:

• adultery
• behaviour that makes continuing to live together unreasonable
• desertion
• separation of more than two years (if spouse agrees to the divorce)
• separation of at least five years (if spouse disagrees with the divorce).

The government also plans to:

• allow couples to give notice jointly
• allow joint applications to become sole applications (and vice versa)
• remove the ability for one person to contest a divorce
• retain the two stage process of decree nisi and decree absolute
• introduce a minimum timeframe of six months from petition to decree absolute
• modernise the language used in the divorce process.
•  

These changes would also apply to the dissolution of civil partnerships.

Our view

These reforms should help to remove blame and simplify the process.

‘No-fault divorce’ should reduce conflict, allowing couples to focus on important issues like children, property and finances.

However, note the planned removal of the ability to defend the divorce!  A forced marriage is a crime committed by the person doing the forcing.  What about a forced divorce?  No such plans to make this a crime – on the contrary, the government are allowing this to become acceptable.

We will update you on the progress of any legislation.

If you would like advice on divorce, please contact our Family team who will be happy to help.