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The law on divorce in England and Wales is changing after over 50 years. The new rules (Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020) will come into force on 6^th April 2022, with the last day for filing divorce applications under the current rules being a week before, on 31^st March 2022.

One of the main complete changes will be the removal of the requirement to prove the separation period or conduct of the other spouse.

Currently, there is only one ground for divorce, the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. To prove this, the Petitioner, who under the new rules will be called “the Applicant”, must rely on one of the current five reasons, two of them being fault based (“unreasonable behaviour”, “adultery” and “desertion”) and three no-fault based (“separation of over 2 years with consent” and “separation of over 5 years without consent”). The latter are based on different lengthy separation periods. The first two, however, place the blame entirely on the Respondent and they are Adultery and Unreasonable Behaviour.

At present, almost 75% of divorces are fault based, blaming the spouse for the breakdown of the marriage. This has been considered by many to be a burden, a distorted portrayal of reality, and an unfair scenario for Respondent who must take the blame.  It often causes difficulties in the parties agreeing on the petition and the allegations made within it. In addition, playing ‘the blame game’ has more often than not created friction between the spouses, and has had a negative impact on the adjacent matters, such as financial and children arrangements.

Sometimes, the breakdown happens organically, the spouses grow apart, compatibility ceases to exist, perspectives and priorities change, or the initial strong feelings are simply no longer there. It is for this reason that throughout the years, many have supported the idea of a no-fault divorce being introduced, to enable married couples to go through a divorce without having to blame one another.

The new rules will dramatically change the way that divorce takes place as this will now be entirely based on no-fault which eliminates the “blame game” often encountered in divorce proceedings. This means that all that will be required will be for at least one of the spouses to issue an application confirming that the marriage has broken down. No evidence will be required for this beyond a statement.

This will be specifically welcomed by those couples who, because they cannot or would not allege any of the fault-based grounds, have to stay married and wait for at least two years of marriage to have lapsed before they can begin the divorce process.

The fact that the Applicant will no longer need to make allegations against their spouse, is hoped to reduce acrimony and allow the parties to focus on the possible connected arrangements required, such as financial or children.

Another major change brought by the new rules will be the removal of the ability to defend the divorce. After 6^th April, the divorce cannot be challenged. A respondent may only ‘dispute’ the divorce on jurisdictional grounds, based on the validity of the marriage, or the fact that the marriage has already legally ended.

For the first time ever, a couple will be able to submit a joint application meaning that they both apply for the divorce, dissolution, or separation.

Once the application is issued, the parties will need to wait a minimum of 20 weeks before applying for the Decree Nisi which under the new rules will be called the “Conditional Order”. This will be seen as a “cool off” or reflection period during which they may consider reconciliation, should they wish to do so. The minimum waiting period between the pronouncement of the Conditional Order and the Final Order (the old Decree Absolute) remains at 6 weeks. This means that the new divorce process will be lengthier and will take a minimum of 6 months to complete, compared to the current 3-4 months.

Proceedings issued before 5^th April 2022 will continue to progress under the previous law. These applications will not be impacted on by the new rules.

The entire process will now take place online, digitalising all communication between the court and the parties and therefore eliminating the delays incurred by documentation being sent in the post. The new platform service is expected to go live on 6^th April 2022 and can only be used for divorce proceedings. There will be new forms and new procedures in place, as well as changes related to how papers can be served on the other spouse.

In relation to costs, no changes have been announced thus far, meaning that the minimum a couple will need to pay for a divorce will be the current court fee of £593. Some consider the unchanged court fee to be unreasonably high for the new simplified process, however, this will stay the same for the foreseeable future. The new rules will therefore entirely remove the adversarial basis of many divorce cases, which is why they have consequently been named the biggest change in the divorce law in over half a century.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.