No such thing as a ‘no fault’ divorce – Church
Bishop slams reforms that make it easier to split up
THE Church of England has condemned divorce-on-demand reforms that ministers say will ease marriage break-ups.
It said yesterday that the changes planned by Justice Secretary David Gauke will wrongly stop a husband or wife opposing divorce.
The reforms will sweep away divorce on the grounds of adultery and unreasonable behaviour, and instead allow divorce within six months at the request of just one spouse.
But the Right Reverend Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, attacked the idea of ‘no-fault’ divorce that underpins Mr Gauke’s reforms. He told the Church’s parliament, the General Synod, someone was always at fault if a marriage failed.
Mr Gauke has admitted his Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, which is before the Commons, will lead to an increase in divorces, which are at their lowest in nearly 50 years.
The Roman Catholic Church had already opposed the Bill.
Yesterday, Bishop Butler told a Synod meeting in York that the Church’s mission and public affairs council ‘ agreed that “irretrievable breakdown” should remain the sole ground for divorce’.
He said that in a submission to the Government consultation on the reforms, it ‘criticised no-fault divorce as the council believed all marital splits involve some fault, although not necessarily on one side only’.
He added: ‘The proposal to introduce a simple notification process fell down on a number of points. It did nothing to encourage reflection and re- examination of the marital situation, did nothing to support the resilience of marriages and removed the important element of consent.
‘While the council shared the Government’s objective of reducing family conflict, it was not persuaded that the proposals on divorce had been sufficiently thought through.’
The reforms follow pressure from judges and lawyers who say they will reduce acrimony between parents.
But some lawyers claim they will actually do nothing to cut disputes between husbands and wives over children, money and property.
The reforms will be the first major change to divorce law since 1969, when liberalisation led to a trebling of divorce numbers in a decade by introducing ‘quickie’ divorces. This allows divorce in a year to couples who allege fault such as adultery, and sets waiting periods for no-fault divorce of two years for couples who agree to part and five years where one wishes to stay married.
Divorce numbers are at an historic low. The 101,669 in England and Wales in 2017 – which is the latest figure – was the lowest since 1971.
Legal critics believe the new divorce regime will do nothing to reduce conflict.
Family lawyer Baroness Deech, a former chief of the barristers’ regulator, the Bar Standards Board, said: ‘The divorce proposal as it stands would give us the quickest and harshest law I have come across.
‘It won’t change the law that really results in hardship and injustice – the expensive, unpredictable provisions about dividing money and assets on divorce. That’s what creates bad feeling and harms children. That reform should come first.’