by Tony Rucinski, Coalition for Marriage
When Parliament ushered in no-fault divorce three years ago, its champions promised an end to the “blame game”. The opposite has happened. Family solicitors now report that accusations of “bad behaviour” are being scattered through every stage of the process, inflaming rows over money and children. This is dragging cases out and driving up costs, all without affecting the legal outcome. “We are seeing more of this than under the old system”, says James Grigg, head of family law at HCR Law, in the Law Gazette’s latest review of the reforms.
Within three months of the new regime, divorce applications in England and Wales hit a record 33,566 – 99% of them under the no-fault rules and more than three-quarters filed unilaterally by one spouse. Official court statistics confirm a 22% initial surge in matrimonial cases in the same quarter.