New divorce laws come into effect on April 6, 2022, and the changes are quite radical, putting aside 50 years of existing legislation to finally say that couples can end their marriages without having to blame one person or the other.
It’s never an easy process, and many divorces end up bitter and acrimonious and the only real winners end up being the legal firms who represent one party or the other. They can also be disastrous for mental health: Frontiers in Psychology published a study which indicates that conflict-ridden divorce proceedings can diminish mental health even further following the settlement.
It’s this conflict and bitterness, therefore, that the new no-fault divorce laws (originally passed in June 2020) are designed to address.
The Divorce, Dissolution, and Separation Act 2020 is a fundamental shift away from the blame game of previous acts, under which one person had to either prove that their spouse and committed some kind of heinous act to render the marriage irreparable or prove that they had been living separate and separated lives for a minimum of two years.
It’s now possible to simply say that the relationship has broken down irretrievably, and that one person (or indeed both) can ask the court to dissolve their marriage.
Julian Hawkhead, a senior partner at the UK’s largest family law firm, Stowe Family law, said: “In actual fact blame in a divorce achieves very little and often distracts from tackling the issues that matter. Blame leaves parties anchored on the past and does not help them focus on the future and finding solutions to help them move on.
“It is often very hard for clients to detach blame from their thinking when they have to consider what is in the best interests of their children and what a fair financial settlement should look like.
“This was further cemented by a divorce process where citing adultery or behaviour was the only way people could quickly end their marriage. Taking away the element of blame will help people focus on the important issues.”
Mr Hawkhead added that the new system, which also prevents people contesting a divorce, will be a huge help to those trapped in violent or abusive relationships.
“It must be hard for someone in an abusive relationship to be faced with the prospect of having to blame their spouse for a relationship breaking down and risk further wrath,” he said.
“One could imagine situations where the wife is so in fear of the husband and so coercively controlled she is extremely reluctant to blame him.”
Figures show that every week between two and three women are murdered by their current or former partners in England and Wales. One in four women suffer domestic abuse at one point or another during their lives, and it’s also the crime women are most likely to be repeat victims of. In such situations the ability to end the marriage quickly and with minimal fuss is paramout, as is a fair settlement, and the new system will allow the “financially vulnerable” to access what’s rightfully theirs more quickly.
That said, the law change will have “very little” effect on financial settlements, as despite the blame game, the courts have always been more about fairness and equity when it comes to splitting property and assets, with little thought given to any punitive measures.
Mr Hawkhead also said he anticipated a spike in divorce rates in the months immediately after the introduction of the laws, citing examples such as Scotland and South Africa which already have such legislation. The figures there returned to normal levels fairly quickly, and he said there would be an equal decline in numbers in advance of April 6 as couples waited for the overhaul to come into law.
“Couples will find the divorce process less painful to deal with and there will be fewer recriminations against each other under no-fault divorce,” Mr Hawkhead said. “Ultimately the no-fault divorce changes have been designed to end the blame game.”
William Longrigg, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, said: “We welcome the change. As lawyers, we have been campaigning for it for years. Blame is another hurdle, which is unnecessary and also a bit silly. If they’ve both decided to divorce then why cite blame.”
He noted that previously the marriage laws were inherently linked to their religious origins, with marriage decreed “sacrosanct” and that in their earliest iterations they could “only be dissolved by act of parliament”.
“The court had to be absolutely certain before it could end in divorce. Everything had to be a contest,” he said.
“That all changed in 1973 and then it became much easier to get a divorce and much more of a paper exercise but the fault remained. Other countries can’t believe we still have fault element.”
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that since 1949 women have been more likely to petition for divorce than their husbands, with 62% of all divorces in the 70 years to 2019 requested by the wife. Like any statistic there are peaks and troughs. The gap between women and men seeking divorce has narrowed over the last few years, coming down from a 1992 peak when 72% of divorces were requested by the wife.
Emma Hatley, partner at Stewards, said: “Making the decision to divorce is not one anyone takes lightly. This step has historically been even harder for those – more often women – in challenging or controlling and coercive relationships. To date, in order to be granted a divorce, a case has to be made that a spouse has behaved unreasonably.
“This can be a traumatic process and has the potential to result in a more contentious start to proceedings, which can put people off to the point they don’t go ahead. Sadly, this has led some to remain in unhappy, and even abusive, marriages. A partner will no longer need to be afraid as to how their spouse may react to the contents of a petition”.
