On 6 April 2022 new divorce laws came into force in England and Wales. In what has been described as the biggest change to divorce laws in over 50 years, the Divorcee, Dissolution and Separation Act of 2020 introduced a system of ‘no blame’ divorce. Its aim, according to HM Courts and Tribunal Service, is to ‘reduce potential conflict’ among divorcing couples.
Prior to the new laws, anyone wanting a swift end to their marriage or civil partnership had to accuse their partner, in a formal divorce petition, of ‘desertion, adultery or unreasonable behaviour’. If they did not wish to do this, couples had to spend 2 years living apart if both partners agreed to the divorce, or 5 years if one member of the couple did not agree to splitting up. Understandably, in some cases this led to hostility and acrimony between the couples involved, or forced people to remain in unhappy unions for longer than they would have wished. The adversarial nature of the ‘blame game’ often made it harder for couples to agree over important issues such as the future of their children and the division of assets. If one partner contested the divorce, procedures could take longer and be even more hostile.
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