No Fault Divorce - Law Update

With many gaps and areas of ambiguity in the current law of divorce and dissolution, a new government bill which is due to be implemented in April 2022 provides spouses with an alternative route to divorce that boasts a conflict free, child focused and civil path to legal separation.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act which is likely to be implemented in early 2022 delivers promises to married couples of a conflict free and amicable route to separation. Current legislation only allows for a “faultless” and dispute free divorce where parties must either wait for 2 years (if both parties agreed to the divorce), or 5 years if the other party in the marriage did not consent to divorce proceedings. This results in a spouse having to show fault in the other party in order to obtain a divorce to “fit in” to one of the alternative grounds for divorce, that being, behaviour, adultery or desertion. This “blame game” would often lead to further unnecessary tension between couples who were already being burdened with the stressful notion of divorce proceedings.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act allows for married couples who both consent to a divorce to make a joint petition to the courts declaring that they both agree and accept the truth that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. This new bill allows for a cordial and harmonious option for couples who wish to end the marriage in the most amicable way possible. It would allow for the couple to be civil without distressing over having to find blame in their significant other to end a marriage to which they both consent to. It would also allow for couples to focus more on creating appropriate child arrangement agreements which would in turn, strengthen the Courts’ objective in family and child law matters, that the welfare of the children must be held as paramount.

The Act has also endorsed for the terminology used in divorce proceedings to be changed to allow litigants in person to understand and comprehend the process. Terms such as “Decree Nisi” will be known as a “Conditional Order” and “Decree Absolute” will be referred to as “Final Divorce Order”. With this change, it is clear that the number of litigants in person are increasing to which the courts are responding by making it easier for such people to initiate Court proceedings.

Although this new act boasts many advantages and benefits to couples who wish to dissolve matters amicably, it also opens the floodgates for couples who may make impulse decisions. This new bill will allow for marriages to end a lot easier than it would when relying upon one of the 5 grounds for divorce. However, this could lead to couples filing for a divorce without having enough consideration to the long-term impacts. This new bill may be seen as a quick option to end a marriage for couples who may make hasty decisions in the heat of a moment during a dispute with their spouse.

Although this new bill is many months away, it does beg the question as to why the courts have not given way to couples ending their marriage amicably a lot sooner. With the courts main role in the UK being to resolve disputes, it begs the question as to why such consensual methods cannot be implemented in all areas of the law.?