The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (c. 11) is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

which amends existing laws relating to

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

to allow for

no-fault divorce In a no-fault divorce the dissolution of a marriage does not require a showing of wrongdoing by either party. Laws providing for no-fault divorce allow a family court to grant a divorce in response to a petition by either party of the marriage w ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. The government held that the changes were the biggest reform of England and Wales's divorce laws since the

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c 18) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom governing divorce law and marriage in England and Wales. Contents The act contains four parts: # Divorce, Nullity and Other Matrimonial Suits # Financial Reli ...

, and that the laws would reduce the impact that allegations of blame could have on families, as under previous law one spouse was required to make accusations about the other's conduct in order to be granted a divorce.

Background

In 2018, the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...

upheld a denial of a divorce petition in the case of ''

Owens v Owens ''Owens v Owens'/nowiki> UKSC 41] was a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom case involving the divorce of Mr and Mrs Owens, a couple who had married in 1978. The Supreme Court upheld a decision made at trial, and previously upheld by the Court of ...

''. The justices in the case were reluctant in coming to their findings and invited Parliament to reconsider the law on divorce. This led to the government announcing an intention to reform the law on divorce to remove the requirement to demonstrate irretrievable breakdown of a marriage with reference to one of the five grounds in s1 of the

Provisions

Section 1 of the act amended the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 allowing for parties to apply to the court for a divorce by stating that the marriage had broken down irretrievably without apportioning blame on either party. Section 2 of the act provides for changes to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 where an application of judicial separation has been made and removes the requirement for factual grounds to be provided where a judicial separation is sought. Sections 3 to 5 makes similar changes to the

Civil Partnership Act 2004 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Labour government, which grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom the rights and responsibilities very similar to those in civil ...

to allow for the parties to apply to the court for dissolution by way of a statement that the civil partnership has broken down irretrievably. The act shall only apply to

and

References

{{reflist

External links

Lexicology.com

Familylaw.co.uk

Legislation.gov.uk
2020 in British law Divorce law in the United Kingdom United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2020

Background

Provisions

See also

References

External links