In a letter published in The Times on Wednesday 1 March 2017, it was claimed by Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh that “research from Sweden, Canada and the US shows that introducing no-fault divorce significantly increases divorce rates.”
Sir Edward was responding to the comments by Supreme Court Justice Lord Wilson of Culworth on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House the previous weekend that the law is in urgent need of updating to do away with the old fashioned requirement of fault being apportioned in a divorce. To listen to the full interview, listen here. (It starts at 20.20)
I do not know what systems of divorce existed in those countries prior to the introduction of no-fault divorce. However, I accept that if a system that makes it difficult to divorce is replaced by a no-fault system, the divorce rates will inevitably rise.
Furthermore, Professor Liz Trinder of Exeter University pretty much blows his claims out of the water here. I fear that Sir Edward may be ignoring evidence that does not fit with his socially conservative outlook.
In any event, Sir Edward’s assertion misses the point. It is already very easy to divorce in England and Wales. If you are not prepared or able to wait to divorce until after two years’ separation with the respondent’s consent or five years without consent ,you simply have to allege that the marriage has irretrievably broken down due to either the respondent’s adultery or behaviour. This is not a difficult test to pass. Defended divorce proceedings are incredibly rare, successfully defended divorces rarer still.
There is no reason to believe that replacing a fault-based system where it is easy to divorce with a no-fault system will increase the divorce rate, apart from perhaps a small initial spike. It will not become easier to divorce, it will simply remove the pointless additional conflict caused by fault-based divorce proceedings, allowing the parties to concentrate instead on reaching agreement about their children and finances, and allowing them to bring their marriage to an end with dignity.
2 March 2017