If you want to legally divorce your spouse in England and Wales, you have to rely on one of the 5 ‘Facts’ for divorce. If matters are so pressing that you do not want to wait for 5 years of separation, or even for a ‘2 year separation with consent’ divorce, it will be necessary for you to, in effect, plead your case as to why the Court should grant you a divorce, This will either involve citing your spouse’s adultery, and getting him and his new paramour to agree to this; or proving ‘desertion’; or ‘dishing the dirt’ and explain in terms what it is about your spouse’s behaviour, that you now find ‘unreasonable’ and how it negatively affects you.
Whilst in some cases there may be something deliciously satisfying about painting a spouse as the ‘bad guy’ we do need to ask the question ‘why should this be necessary, as a matter of law?’ The problem with the outdated fault based divorce system is that it invites conflict, when the opposite is required, especially when children are involved. The fact is that couples fall in and out of love, and sometimes they fall completely out of love. It’s a basic fact of life, which frankly the law should recognise.
A solicitor has recently renewed the call for the Government to change the law so that proving fault is not a prerequisite to getting divorced.
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