posted 2nd November 2022
No fault divorce came into effect in England and Wales in April 2022.
This means that couples will be able to get divorced without one person needing to blame the other. This change in the law will also apply to civil partnership dissolution.
How will the ‘ no fault divorce’ process work?
1. Under the new laws, couples are now able to get divorced solely on the basis that the marriage has broken down.
2. You are able to apply for divorce individually or jointly. There is no advantage or disadvantage to either option.
3. It is no longer possible to contest a divorce. So once the application has been made, the divorce will happen.
4. There are 2 stages to the divorce process: the first stage of the divorce is now called the ‘conditional order’ (used to be Decree Nisi).
5. The second and final stage of the divorce is now called the ‘final order’ (used to be Decree Absolute).
6. You now have to wait 20 weeks from the time of application, before you can get the conditional order.
7. Once you have the conditional order, you will have to wait a further 6 weeks before you can get the final order.
The most important fact that most divorcing couples do not realise, is that the divorce process in itself, does not deal with the financial settlement i.e. how are the assets of the marriage – property, savings, investments, pensions etc – are going to be shared between you.
The process that deals with the financial settlement is a separate process from the divorce, which only dissolves the marriage.
