No fault divorce day

Today (6 April) marks ‘no-fault divorce day’ – a long-awaited change in the law which allows married couples to divorce without having to blame the other party.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 allows a couple to seek a divorce without assigning blame for the breakdown – grounds have previously included unreasonable behaviour, adultery or desertion.

A key change, along with the removal of blame, allows couples to start divorce as a joint process; previously, one partner would have to start proceedings against the other.

The terms ‘decree nisi’ and ‘decree absolute’ will become obsolete, being replaced with ‘conditional divorce’ and ‘final divorce’ orders, and the grounds for contesting a divorce will be narrowed.

Our family law team have covered this topic in detail, from the legislation process to identifying the key changes and explaining how and why this change has come about. You can find all of our articles on no-fault divorce here.