6th April 2022
From the 6th April 2022 there is no requirement to blame one party for the breakdown of the marriage to obtain a divorce. The main changes can be summarised as follows:
• Removal of the requirement to provide evidence of ‘conduct’ or ‘separation facts’ and replacing with a requirement to provide a statement of irretrievable breakdown of marriage/judicial separation
• Removing the ability to defend
• Allowing joint applications
• Introducing a new minimum overall timeframe of 6 months (20 weeks from start of divorce to the conditional order and then a further 6 weeks to the final divorce)
The minimum timeframe of 6 months does mean that the process will not be quicker than the previous scheme however, it will avoid unnecessary conflict and likely to reduce the damaging effect on children in particular.
To find out more please contact our office.