No Fault Divorce
No fault divorce came into effect in England and Wales in April 2022.
This means that couples are now able to get divorced without one person needing to blame the other. This change in the law also applies to civil partnership dissolution.
Stages of 'No Fault Divorce'
1. Under the no fault divorce system, one or both parties can make the application for divorce.
2. The most important element of no fault divorce is the removal of fault or blame from the divorce process. Under the new laws, couples are able to get divorced solely on the basis that the marriage has broken down.
3. Under the new no fault divorce system, the option to contest the divorce will be removed.
4. There is now a minimum timeframe ('cooling off period') of 20 weeks between the first and last stages of the divorce. Divorces will now take a minimum of 6 months to complete taking this cooling-off period into account. The new process still involves the two stages which are now called 'conditional order' and 'final order' of divorce.
5. Once the conditional order has been issued, there is a minimum wait of 6 weeks and one day before the application for the final order can be made.