Divorce rate unchanged since outcome of referendum
But lawyers say a surge in decrees could be coming a year from now
THE predicted surge in divorces following last year’s referendum has yet to materialise, new figures reveal.
Data for the first few months after the law was changed, reducing the period a former couple must have lived apart from four years to two, shows no major variation in the number of divorces being granted.
However, some prominent family law solicitors say it is too early to gauge the impact of the referendum and that a spike in divorce numbers may well materialise a year from now.
The new data comes 12 months after the referendum, when 82pc of those who went to the polls voted in favour of removing the constitutional requirement for a defined period of separation before a court could grant a dissolution of marriage.
Legislation replacing the previous four-year waiting period with a shorter one of two years came into force last December.
Figures covering the months immediately after the law was passed show no major change in divorce numbers.
The data was provided by the Courts Service to Culture Minister Josepha Madigan, a former family law solicitor who was one of the driving forces behind the referendum.
According to the figures, 133 divorces were granted last December compared to 108 in the same month in 2018.
In January, some 75 divorces were granted, down on 89 in the same month in 2019.
Figures for February were virtually the same as the previous year, up two cases from 118 to 120.
A big decrease in divorces was recorded in March, down from 107 in 2019 to just 67.
But this may be because the processing of divorce applications by the courts came to a standstill in the middle of the month due to Covid-19.
Writing in today’s Irish Independent, Ms Madigan said that while the real impact of the referendum will not become apparent until next year, when divorce figures for the whole of 2019 are published, she did not believe couples will have been rushing to the family law courts in any great numbers.
But some family law solicitors still think there will eventually be a surge in divorces.
Helen Coughlan, chair of the Law Society’s family and child law committee, said it was too soon to draw conclusions from the new figures.
“Even if people applied in December, it could be now in the ordinary course before those cases would be coming up in court,” she said.
The impact of the coronavirus, which has greatly curtailed court business since March, also means it could be some time before the impact of the referendum is known.
“I think that while you may not see it in the figures yet, possibly in a year or so you may very well see an increase,” Ms Coughlan said.
Keith Walsh, another family law solicitor, also believes it is too early to draw any conclusions and that there will eventually be an increase in divorce decrees.
At least some of this will come from a cohort of people who previously would have opted for a judicial separation, which can be granted after one year. This is not the same as divorce but such decrees confirm a couple are no longer obliged to live together.
They also allow a court to make orders in relation to custody and access to children, maintenance and the transfer of property.
Mr Walsh said he believed a lot of people in judicial separation proceedings would now seek to convert these into divorce ones.
He said it would help eliminate cases where people had to engage in two processes, first a judicial separation and then a divorce.
“The new legislation will make a huge difference and will be a huge benefit to the litigant,” Mr Walsh said.