No-fault divorce bid ‘full of flaws’

ONE of the country’s most eminent family lawyers warned yesterday that planned no- fault divorce reforms are riddled with flaws and that MPs and peers are likely to water them down.

Baroness Deech is the first senior legal figure to challenge the proposals for divorce on demand put forward by ministers earlier this month.

The radical plan aims to abolish adultery or unreasonable behaviour as grounds for a divorce and instead allow any husband or wife simply to ask for a divorce. Their marriage would then be over automatically six months later. At present they must allege fault by their spouse or wait through a period of separation – two years if a couple agree to divorce or five years if they don’t.

Lady Deech said she believes Parliament will decline to remove fault from divorce and will instead follow the Scottish model, which allows divorce after shorter separations. ÷Vardags, a law firm, yesterday offered unhappy wives the chance to dip into a £10million loan fund to pay for a divorce.