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No-fault divorce law comes into force this week in England which as been welcomed by one Kent divorcee

By: Juliana Cruz Lima jcruzlima@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 04 April 2022

Updated: 10:14, 06 April 2022

The no-fault divorce law is set to be introduced on Wednesday and is the biggest change in nearly half a century.

And one divorcee from Kent has welcomed the change, saying it would have made her separation quicker and less painful.

Under the new law, couples will not need to apportion blame

Shelly, who did not wish to share her real name, said she had no reasons to blame her partner for the end of the marriage, as they had "just grown apart".

However, the couple had to find "nitpick reasons to blame each other" so the divorce would be passed in court.

She said: "It could’ve avoided a lot of stress as our process was particularly difficult as there wasn't a clear blame.

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"Divorce is already a painful process, but when you have no fault, you have to make up reasons to satisfy the court, and to do that it can do nothing but cause pain.

"You're essentially having to bring up things that have happened, but you wouldn't want to do that because it's going to just cause more animosity.

"You also have to make it relevant enough so the court will pass it, and so it just feels more hurtful than it needs to be."

No fault divorce will be implemented from Wednesday, April 6

The new law, which will be part of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, will mark the end of the divorce blame game.

This means that from Wednesday, married couples will no longer have to look for reasons for permanently separating.

Shelly, 48, said the change would have been less destructive to her mental health, as she would have been able to part ways sooner and in a more amicable way.

She said: "You’re able to focus on what's important about going forward, rather than looking back and trying to think of reasons, nitpicking excuses, and horrible things to satisfy the court, and not actually keeping things amicable.

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"If you have children involved, the new process is even more important. Having no fault just makes that process a little bit easier because you're not having to apportion blame.

"The old process just causes more animosity, it’s completely unnecessary and I think it's a good thing that the laws are changing because certainly, for my case, it would have been good to avoid everything that happened."

Graham Jones, solicitor and family law expert. Picture: Whitehead Monckton

Shelly had complications with other areas of her divorce and choosing not to blame anyone has lengthened the process to two years - becoming more difficult and painful for her and her former partner.

However, the no fault divorce is also quicker and straightforward, and has been taken on by solicitors like Graham Jones.

The family law expert at Whitehead Monckton, explained how divorce will be a much smoother process, as couples can not only file together, but can also do it online.

He said: "If a couple have decided they don't want to be married anymore, but they're still amicable, they can do the divorce jointly."

The process will also run much quicker than two years. Instead, couples could get it all done in 26 weeks from filing a statement.

Shelly is aware that the move might not be well-received by some, but she is confident that break-ups will be much healthier for estranged couples from now on.

She said: "Having no fault divorce means that you can take blame out of the equation. Couples will be able to focus on building some sort of positive relationship going forward rather than breaking each other down with whose fault is."

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