Faultless divorce ?

A leading family law judge, Sir Nicholas Wall has said that he can "see no good arguments against no fault divorce".

Under current law the only ground for divorce is to demonstrate that the marriage has irretrievably broken down by relying upon one of five facts. Two of the facts are fault based being either unreasonable behaviour or adultery and the remaining three facts require a period of separation of at least two years. This means that unless the parties are prepared to wait for a period of two years following separation one spouse has to rely upon the behaviour or adultery of the other  to get a divorce .

Sir Nicholas has said that the current legislation had "its roots in history" when divorce was a "matter of social status". He has suggested that this is no longer the case.

It remains to be seen whether the law will be changed and whether "no fault divorce" will have any impact upon divorcing couples reaching financial settlements.

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