The Government has announced that it will introduce legislation as soon as Parliamentary time allows to change the current procedure for divorce across England and Wales. This will allow separating couples to divorce quicker and, hopefully, with less animosity and arguments.
Current Divorce Laws
The current position is that in order to obtain a divorce the petitioner has to show that the marriage has broken down irretrievably by proving one of five facts. These are:
- Adultery
- Unreasonable behaviour
- Desertion for at least two years
- Living apart for at least two years with consent from your spouse to divorce
- Living apart for at least five years
In many instances, couples can find that they have simply fallen out of love with each other and have made the decision to separate. However, in such circumstances, they either have to wait until they have been separated for 2 or five years, or one party has to blame the other. Not only can this inflame a situation and make the separation less amicable, but it can also have an effect on other issues that need to be addressed, such as the children and financial aspects.
No-Fault Divorce Laws
When the new no-fault divorce laws are implemented, it will mean that a separating couple will simply have to state that their marriage has broken down and they won’t have to apportion blame to either person in the relationship. It will also put an end to a married person’s ability to contest the divorce, and couples will be able to make a joint application for divorce.
The new laws are being introduced following the high profile case of Tini Owens, which has consequently resulted in a lot of media attention and calls for legislative changes to introduce a no-fault divorce system. The calls then received further backing following a 12-week public consultation, which showed extensive support for a change in the system.
Justice Secretary, David Gauke, commented that the changes would hopefully put an end to the “blame game” element associated with the current divorce laws. Mr Gauke went on to say:
“Frankly, we are not going to keep marriages together by having a divorce process that just makes it more acrimonious [and] tries to apportion blame in such a way that the couple are likely to have a weaker, poorer relationship subsequently than they would otherwise do.”
Under the new procedure, the divorce will take a minimum period of 6 months to complete. The intention is to give couples a meaningful period for reflection and to give them the opportunity to change their mind.
Comment
This proposed change is long overdue. Previous attempts to reform the law relating to divorce have fallen flat because it was thought by some that if blame was removed from the process, it would encourage people to divorce just because it was easier to get a divorce. Anyone who has worked with divorcing couples knows this isn’t the case. The overwhelming majority of divorcing couples go into it after a lot of heartache and thought and don’t go into divorce lightly.
The current system, which encourages couples to allocate blame, is unfair and often results in more conflict which usually makes the situation much worse for their children. It can also lead to them running up legal fees to contest the divorce when they would be better concentrating on ensuring that their children come out of this with as little damage as possible and they can also sort out their financial situation for the future.
Hopefully, time will be found sooner rather than later to bring in this important change.
How can Nelsons help?
If you are considering separating, it is important to seek legal advice, as many people will listen to friends and family, who have either separated or know someone who has and they will often recite what happened. However, each family is unique and each separation is different, as it depends on so many different factors. This is why it is important to obtain specialist legal advice from an experienced family law solicitor, who will try and make the process as easy and painless as possible.
For more information or if you need help with a divorce, please contact a member of our Family Law team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.