The Government Name the Day … at last!
The family department at Cunningtons are pleased to confirm the long awaited announcement that the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, allowing married couples to divorce without apportioning blame, will come into force on 6th April 2022.
This date is later than originally indicated, however it is now fixed as a matter of Parliamentary record.
What are the grounds for a no-fault divorce?
The sole ground for a divorce will continue to be the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, the ‘no-fault’ option will negate the need for any allegation of conduct or separation period within the application.
The intention is that there will be a 20 week period between the start of the proceedings and the pronouncement of Decree Nisi/Conditional Order.
Furthermore, it should be possible for parties to make a joint application for a no-fault divorce.
Progress toward the no-fault divorce
As Family Law solicitors – too often known as Divorce solicitors – we’ve been keeping a close eye on the progress of the no-fault divorce as it went through parliament.
In our first post on the matter in January 2020, we revealed that the Bill was in planning stages, and even suggested that there was a possibility it would be enacted that year.
Then of course Covid struck and many institutions were slowed down or temporarily shut down. This led up to our next post on June 11th, that MPs had voted on the matter – and agreed that a no-fault divorce should be available.
The next step on the journey to having no-fault option legally available to divorcing couples is Royal Assent, and that was achieved at the end of June 2020. You can read about that in our post from July 2nd 2020.
And that leads us to today, when we finally have a date set in stone from which couples can simply divorce because they think it’s the right thing to do. 6th April 2022 has been a long time coming.
Cunningtons’ view on the no-fault divorce
We at Cunningtons are hopeful that this change will enable divorce proceedings to proceed in a less confrontational and more amicable manner which can only benefit the family unit overall.
This move is supported by Resolution of which the Family Law Team at Cunningtons are all members.