Legal News

President of the High Court Family Division, Sir James Munby, is calling for a radical overhaul of divorce law, with “no fault” divorces for all.

Sir James is the most senior judge in England and Wales – he said that divorce law needed to be reformed because of the decline of the traditional nuclear family.

Extended families comprising step-siblings and step-parents have also become increasingly common in the UK, as well as same sex marriages.

“The family, though fundamental to society, has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades,” said Sir James.

“The fact is that many adults and children – whether through choice or circumstance – live in families more or less removed from what, until comparatively recently, would have been recognised as the typical nuclear family.”

“Has the time not come to legislate to remove all concepts of fault as a basis for divorce – and to leave irretrievable breakdown as the sole ground?” he told lawyers at the High Court.

The Telegraph reports that Sir James proposes divorce law might be taken out of the court system altogether, with marriages dissolved by officials instead of judges – as is the case in the registration of births and deaths in England and Wales.

Recent reforms to Legal Aid have also meant more emphasis on mediation between separating couples, rather than court action in divorce settlements.

Some critics of recent Legal Aid reforms claim that the changes might mean a victim of domestic abuse might have to face their abuser over a mediation table during the divorce settlement process, however.

Sir James said that as a result of changes to Legal Aid eligibility in family cases, some divorcing partners may not be represented in court because of the legal costs involved.

His says that his aim in reforming divorce law is to introduce some “intellectual honesty” into the process to reflect how society has changed with regard to marriage and relationships, rather than wishing to destroy the sanctity of marriage.

Sir James has also recently called for more transparency in the Family Division, where care proceedings and family cases are often held in secret and not reported for months after a decision has been made. The parties in family cases usually remain anonymous to protect children or vulnerable individuals at the centre of care proceedings or Court of Protection cases.

Sir James also championed equal “divorce rights” for cohabiting couples, especially for women, who have “little or no” rights if they separate from a long-term, live-in partner.

“Women in particular find themselves effectively ‘thrown on the scrap-heap’”, he said. “This is an injustice which has been recognised as long as I have been in the law.

“It is inconceivable that society will not right this injustice in due course,” he added.

“How many more women are to be condemned to injustice in the meantime?”

Sir James went on to say that reform was “desperately needed” – but added that so far successive governments had failed to act.

“Elsewhere there are countries where the system is that a divorce which is by consent – and where there are no children – is treated as an administrative matter, dealt with by what…one might describe as the registrar of births, deaths, marriages and divorces. It seems to work.”

He added that, in divorce cases involving children, treating divorce as an “administrative matter” might not be possible, however.

Duncan Lewis Divorce Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of divorce solicitors – and can advise on divorce and family law, including:

• Ancillary payments
• Child contact and residence
• Children taken into Local Authority care
• Child abuse
• Child abduction
• Co-habiting
• Court of Protection
• Divorce
• Domestic violence
• Judicial separation
• Pre-nuptial agreements
• Trusts
• Wills & probate.

Duncan Lewis divorce solicitors can advise on family law under UK law or Islamic law.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors.

For expert legal advice on divorce and family law, contact Duncan Lewis divorce solicitors on 020 7923 4020.