Shake up in Family Law – An end to the blame game!

Sponsored guest blog from Consilia Legal

As you may have seen in the media, the ‘no-fault’ divorce bill has finally received Royal Assent. Family solicitors all over the country have been campaigning for this for quite some time and this landmark bill has finally been passed by Parliament.

Over the years I have seen more and more couples separate because they have fallen out of love or simply drifted apart for one reason or another. Client’s would approach me to formalise their separation amicably and I would have to explain to them that they would either have to wait 2 years to get divorced or apportion blame and sight grounds for unreasonable behaviour. For many divorcing couples, the breakdown of the marriage and the decision was mutual, however, the laws were such that in the eyes of the court one party had to be blamed for the breakdown or they had to wait until they had been separated 2 years.

In cases of domestic abuse and adultery, it would be easier to sight grounds for ‘unreasonable behaviour’ and parties wanted this to be put in black and white as they felt aggrieved. For the majority of my client’s, this was simply not the case and they would struggle to put into words why they felt their spouse’s behaviour had brought their marriage to an end. My clients would state things like they don’t socialise together, I have to do all the cleaning, we argue a lot but no specific details. Over the years the courts have become less concerned over the contents of the ‘unreasonable behaviour’ but it would still cause undue conflict between the parties seeing their bad points in writing!

What is no-fault divorce?

‘No Fault’ divorce means that couples who chose to issue divorce proceedings will no longer have to blame one another for the breakdown of their marriage. This will mean that there is less conflict between separating couples which is particularly important when the parties have children.

The new law will allow one spouse or the couple jointly to prepare a statement of irretrievable breakdown.

What will the new law do?

The new law will: –

• Replace the ground for divorce with a new requirement to provide a statement of irretrievable breakdown;
• Remove the option of contesting the divorce;
• Allow an option for a joint application; and
• Changing the current wording to be clearer so for example, changing the terms ‘decree nisi’ to conditional order and ‘decree absolute’ to final order.

When will this come into effect?

The bill was first introduced in June 2019 and it was finally passed in June 2020. The government is in the process of working on the implementation of the changes.

Separating couples will need to wait until Autumn 2021 before being able to divorce on the ‘no fault’ basis. The bill is currently going through changes and is not yet accessible.

The no fault divorce has shaken things up in a good way for family solicitors and divorcing couples who do not wish to blame each other for the breakdown of their marriage and would like to separate amicably and avoid any conflict especially in cases where there are children involved.

Over the upcoming months, there will more updates published on no fault divorce which we are all keen to see.

If you are thinking of getting divorced and would like more information on how this change will affect matters, please contact me on the details below:

Sarah Manning, Senior Associate Solicitor Mediator:  s.manning@consilialegal.co.uk 0113 322 9222.