Today marks the implementation of a new era for divorce with the introduction of no fault divorce under the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020. This change in law sees the end to the “blame game” which saw spouses having to apportion blame for the breakdown in their marriage. It is the single biggest change in the law in the last 50 years.
The main changes that you need be aware of are as follows:
What is No-Fault Divorce?
No-fault divorce removes blame from the divorce process. There is now no longer a need to prove one of five facts to be granted a divorce. These included adultery or behaviour and relied on one spouse blaming the breakdown of the marriage on the other. Couples will now be granted a divorce solely on the basis that the marriage has irretrievably broken down.
The divorce can be applied for jointly
Both spouses will be able to make the application jointly if they wish to do so. This will hopefully enable a more constructive approach between separating couples reducing the hostility in divorce proceedings. The ability to solely apply for a divorce still remains.
The terminology has changed
Most people are familiar with the terms decree nisi and decree absolute, but from today divorce orders will be renamed. The decree nisi will be called the conditional order and the decree absolute will be called the final order. The person applying for the divorce will be called the applicant rather than the petitioner.
The time requirements for divorce
There is a new minimum period of 20 weeks before the initial application and the conditional order, and then another six weeks before the conditional order can be made final. This means that the minimum time for a divorce to complete will be a minimum of six months. This is intended to allow couples time for reflection and to finalise any financial arrangements before the final order is made.
A no fault divorce cannot be contested
Under the new law a spouse will no longer be able to prevent a divorce being granted. Under the old law it was possible for a spouse to defend a divorce petition which could make the process drawn out and costly. This has now been removed and it is no longer possible to a spouse to contest a divorce.
Without the need to blame one another for the breakdown of the marriage spouses will hopefully now be able to focus their attention on financial arrangements and their children in a more amicable way.
