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The End of the Blame Game for Divorcing Couples?

on Friday, 21 September 2018.

Justice Secretary David Gauke announced last week that there may be an end in sight for fault based divorces in England and Wales.

One person who is most likely to be at the top of the list celebrating is Mrs Owens, the woman who was infamously locked into an unhappy marriage last July. Whilst Mrs Owens has borne the emotional strain and financial burden of the proceedings, her case has brought this important issue to Parliament's attention.

Currently, the law requires a spouse to place blame and cite their partner's unreasonable behaviour to divorce, unless there has been a period of separation of at least two years and both parties agree to the divorce.

This does not encourage partners to be amicable from the outset, which would ultimately benefit them when dealing with financial matters and living arrangements for any children. Sadly, this also means that more often than not, solicitors are having to heighten the problems within the marriage so that these can be used as the reasons for the breakdown of the relationship.

Those in favour of no-fault divorce argue that you shouldn’t have to remain married to someone if you don’t want to be.

What Next?

Whilst there has not yet been any indication from Parliament as to how the new legislation would work in practice, it would be fair to assume that the current petition would need to be amended to provide for a no-fault divorce. 

We will have to wait for the new changes to come into force, but for now and following the outcome of the Owens case, divorce solicitors will have to be cautious when preparing divorce petitions to prevent ex-partners from being in the same situation as Mrs Owens.


Do you need divorce and family law advice? Please contact  Lucy Barr on 0121 227 3715.