There is currently only one ground for divorce in England and Wales and that is your marriage has broken down ‘irretrievably’ which means beyond repair. You can rely upon one or more of 5 facts or ‘grounds’ for divorce: Adultery, Unreasonable Behaviour, Desertion, 2 Year Separation with Consent of the other spouse and 5 Year Separation without Consent of the other spouse.
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, which I have discussed in an earlier blog post, was given Royal Assent on 25th June 2020 meaning the Bill was converted into an Act of Law. We will have no-fault divorce in this country, but not just yet.
If you are thinking of waiting until this fully comes into effect, then you may have a while to wait I am afraid. The proposed timescale is the autumn of 2021 for implementation. That means you would have to wait over 12 months and so if you don’t want to wait, you may want to petition for a divorce on one of the existing grounds now.
Will this make divorce any cheaper or quicker? I believe the process is still going to take roughly the same amount of time, 5-7 months, in order to dissolve your marriage. I would also suspect that the cost of a divorce will remain largely the same as before. The process will remain largely unchanged.
Article by Tom Harrison Solicitor