At present the only ground for divorce in England and Wales is irretrievable breakdown. However, to prove a marriage has irretrievably broken down, one of the following five facts has to be used:
- Adultery
- Unacceptable behaviour
- Desertion
- Two years separation with consent; and
- Five years separation.
Behaviour, adultery and desertion are fault-based, where one party is blamed for the breakdown of the marriage. Whereas, the two types of separation grounds do not involve blaming one party. Nevertheless, under the current law, behaviour and adultery allow for the quickest divorces, making these grounds more common, meaning that overall divorce based on fault is quicker than no-fault divorce.
This adversarial system has been found to severely worsen the conflict and pain for both parties and cause more harm to any children involved. Separation is hard enough with an overwhelming amount of negative emotions and sadness but there is an added issue of having to cause more hurt by blaming each-other for the collapse of the marriage.
Recently, there has been a push to replace the current outdated system with a no-fault divorce system. On this point, there is some extremely positive movement because The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill has now passed through both Houses of Parliament. It now awaits the final stage of Royal Assent where it will become an Act of Parliament. Once this becomes an Act, it will mean that either or both parties will be able to apply to the court for a ‘divorce order’ on the ground that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, without having to establish any of the five facts.
This will allow couples who simply no longer want to remain in a loveless marriage, for example, to obtain a divorce with mutual agreement and not have both parties pitted against each other. This Bill is a victory for families and we will now see the biggest change in divorce law for over 50 years.
No-fault divorce will be here soon and couples will be able to have an amicable resolution to end their marriages rather than one fuelled by blame.
For more information on divorce and separation and how we can help you, please contact our Family Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.