Although the conceptual target of so-called No Fault Divorce is still immaculate, the way we get there is not. Laws (even old ones that don’t make sense) have to be changed by a Parliamentary process. Until that has been done we’re stuck with the same old inadequate, ineffective laws. The huge collective sigh of relief that we all breathed waiting for the Autumn to come, now has to be breathed again waiting for next Spring to come.
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will not now become law until 6th April 2022, having been moved back from September 2021. Don’t read anything into the fact that this coincides with the new tax year, or the fact that it is dangerously close to 1st April! We doubt that the changes will make divorce that much cheaper, or the divorce finance issues that much less-contested, but it will certainly make the actual uncoupling of the legal union very much easier!
The new law will mean that married couples can divorce each other without the need to assign blame (prove fault). The emotional and psychological burden of having to find fault for a divorce has led to much anxiety and even some abuse. Everyone with an ounce of common sense knows that people can fall out of love, just as quickly as they fall in love. It’s called being human! It doesn’t mean that one party is more to blame than the other. Often none of them are to blame. It therefore makes perfect sense that only one party needs to desire the divorce and that the other party cannot refuse it. What doesn’t make sense is the continued delay in implementing the Bill. However we understand that officially the delay ‘is to allow time to become familiar with the new process, and for any necessary IT changes to be made to HMCTS’s online divorce systems so that new process works as intended and is fit for purpose’. We could be in for a period of further delay!.
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