Divorce rate ‘will go up’ after law change
NO-FAULT divorce reforms are likely to be followed by a boom in the number of marriage breakups, ministers have said.
They have predicted an ‘increase in the volume of matrimonial proceedings’ as couples rush to end their marriages when the reforms become law.
An official assessment of the impact of the new law has also acknowledged for the first time that making it easier to end a marriage will mean quicker divorces for many – and may bring a permanent increase in levels of divorce.
It said that while Justice Secretary David Gauke has ‘assumed’ that the reform will not alter divorce rates, ‘there is a possibility that it could impact rates’.
The warnings were buried in a background document published alongside Mr Gauke’s announcement of the reforms last week.
Mr Gauke’s plans follow a longrunning campaign headed by senior judges and lawyers to get rid of the long-established idea that if a marriage has broken up, someone must be at fault. The new law will allow divorce at the request of one spouse, without any questioning of the circumstances of the marriage.
Mr Gauke intends that a divorce should come automatically six months after a husband or wife asks for it.