No Fault Divorce Now Available - Huge Numbers Start the Process

Nearly 13,000 couples filed for divorce in the first four weeks after reforms designed to make the process less confrontational became legal. That's 1,000 more applications per week than average.

With the new provisions of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act, couples don’t have to assign blame for the breakdown of their marriage.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service said that 12,978 applications were made under the new system this April 2022. Last year the courts received 6,764 digital and 1,965 paper applications.

Couples can also make a joint divorce application for the first time. HMCTS received 2,771 joint and 10,207 sole applications.

Madeleine Young, family law expert at Hewetts Solicitors in Reading said, “This is what I expected to happen. Couples no longer have to prove a fault based fact against their partner. This is much better as it helps to reduce confrontation and unnecessary conflict. This is a much better situation for children. I expect that this will become the new way of starting proceedings, under a no-fault basis.”

If you are looking at a divorce or separation, Madeleine Young offers a free 15 minute consultation. You can reserve yours by calling her on 0118 955 9616

HMCTS said the service was performing well so far. ‘On launch day, our first acknowledgement of service was received within 30 minutes of issuing an application. This proved that serving by email is far quicker than under the old law,’ the agency said.

The first conditional offers confirming that the marriages and civil partnerships can end are expected to be issued in August, with final orders to legally end the marriage later this autumn.

Published on 05/07/2022

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