Rubber-stamp divorce on way
No-fault separations – without proof marriage has totally broken down
MARRIED couples will soon be able to go their separate ways with nofault divorces rubberstamped by the courts, it was claimed last night.
Under sweeping legal reforms to Britain’s confrontational divorce laws, ministers will remove the demand for blame from break-ups.
Instead it was suggested Justice Secretary David Gauke will put forward plans to reduce the divorce process to a court hearing in which a judge simply accepts a couple’s marriage has irretrievably broken down.
Current laws demand proof that the marriage has broken down due to a partner’s adultery, unreasonable behaviour or desertion.
The looming possibility of no-fault divorce legislation brought fierce criticism from pro-marriage activists who said that removing the need for blame would mean easier and more frequent separations, the end of thousands of marriages that could be saved given time and serve only to enrich the legal profession.
Thomas Pascoe, of the Coalition For Marriage, said: ‘It is a damning indictment of this Government’s attitude towards marriage that its headline policy in this area is now to encourage and abet family breakdown by easing the path to divorce.
‘No-fault divorce is really noreason divorce. It undermines marriage by allowing anyone to walk away from their commitments. Some 10,000 divorces a year are abandoned under the current system, often during the delays built into it.’ Under present laws, by far the most commonly used reason for divorce is unreasonable behaviour, which can be a result of alcohol or drug abuse, personal abuse, theft or a number of other causes.
Without one of these reasons for separating, couples have to wait two years if both spouses agree to the divorce or five years without consent.
In July, Supreme Court justices denied a divorce to Tini Owens, 68, who parted from her husband Hugh of nearly 40 years in 2015. As their marriage deteriorated she had embarked on an affair in 2012, after which she filed for divorce, but Mr Owens forgave her and refused to consent to the separation.
Mrs Owens was appealing against a decision by judges who decided she would not be granted a divorce for her husband’s alleged unreasonable behaviour, after accusing him of being moody, argumentative and lacking affection.
However, the Owens case is highly unusual. In 2016, the last year for which figures are available, 114,000 people petitioned for divorce but only 17 cases were contested in court.
The proposals for no-fault divorce are expected to be produced in full by Mr Gauke later this year, according to the Buzzfeed News website.
The Ministry of Justice yesterday declined to comment on the leaked reforms, but they tally with Mr Gauke’s public support for a campaign for no-fault marriage earlier this year.
At the time he said that ‘ the current system of divorce creates unnecessary antagonism in an already difficult situation’.