• About
    • Privacy Policy
  • GSW
  • Guide To Making A Subject Access Request
  • In Dad’s Shoes
    • An Overview
    • Invitation
    • Media
    • Photos
    • Press Release
    • Soft Launch
    • Speeches
    • Summary
  • Media Coverage
  • Parliamentary Debates
  • Voice of the Child Podcasts

Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Daily Archives: July 23, 2018

Question It!

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by Natasha in Family Law, Researching Reform

≈ 2 Comments

Welcome to another week.

A Private Members Bill going through the House of Lords asks the government to review divorce law in England and Wales. The draft Bill also calls for the implementation of no fault divorce, which would allow spouses to set aside their marriages without having to show any proof of wrongdoing or misconduct.

Currently in the UK, married couples need to select one of five reasons to apply for a divorce. In practice, family lawyers have been producing anodyne petitions for years in order to bypass an often convoluted and high conflict fault based system. Anodyne petitions are diplomatic statements filed with the court, which while still citing one of the five grounds for divorce, avoid using inflammatory language or the addition of laboured descriptions of wrongdoing.

The Bill has been produced by former President of the Family Division Baroness Butler-Sloss, who is perhaps better known for her short stint as Chair of the nation’s child abuse inquiry. Butler-Sloss left the position after it emerged that she had close ties with the establishment. The Baroness was also accused of covering up child sexual abuse committed by Bishop Peter Ball.

Private Members Bills very rarely make it to the finish line. As a former President of the Family Division, Butler-Sloss’s proposals carry more weight than most, which may help push the Bill along a little, however it faces strong opposition from government , which has repeatedly set aside calls for no fault divorce. The current Conservative government, deeply invested as it is in marriage, is unlikely to bow to renewed pressure to change the law in this area.

Those in favour of implementing no fault divorce argue that it is the right and progressive thing to do, reduces conflict, and that the system is already behaving as if no fault divorce exists through the ever increasing use of the anodyne petition, anyway.

Those against no fault divorce view the concept as a direct attack on marriage, that it risks increasing the divorce rate if people believe it is easier to separate, and could lead to a rise in family breakdown.

Our question this week then, is just this: do you think England and Wales should implement no fault divorce?

face_question_mark

 

 

 

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 8,014 other followers

Contact Researching Reform

Huff Post Contributer

For Litigants in Person

Child Welfare Debates

July 2018
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Jun   Aug »

Children In The Vine : Stories From The Family Justice System

Categories

  • Adoption
  • All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and The Court of Protection
  • Articles
  • Big Data
  • Bills
  • Case Study
  • child abuse
  • child abuse inquiry
  • child welfare
  • Children
  • Children In The Vine
  • Circumcision
  • Civil Partnerships
  • Consultation
  • Conversations With…
  • Corporal Punishment
  • CSA
  • CSE
  • Data Pack
  • Domestic Violence
  • Encyclopaedia on Family and The Law
  • event
  • Family Law
  • Family Law Cases
  • FGM
  • FOI
  • forced adoption
  • Foster Care
  • Fudge of the Week
  • Fultemian Project
  • Huffington Post
  • Human Rights
  • IGM
  • Inquiry
  • Interesting Things
  • Interview
  • Judge of the Week
  • Judges
  • judicial bias
  • Law to lust for
  • legal aid
  • LexisNexis Family Law
  • LIP Service
  • LIPs
  • Marriage
  • McKenzie Friends
  • MGM
  • News
  • Notes
  • petition
  • Picture of the Month
  • Podcast
  • Question It
  • Random Review
  • Real Live Interviews
  • Research
  • Researching Reform
  • social services
  • social work
  • Spotlight
  • Stats
  • Terrorism
  • The Buzz
  • The Times
  • Troubled Families Programme
  • Twitter Conversations
  • Update
  • Voice of the Child
  • Voice of the Child Podcast
  • Westminster Debate
  • Who's Who Cabinet Ministers
  • Your Story

Recommended

  • Blawg Review
  • BlogCatalog
  • DaddyNatal
  • DadsHouse
  • Divorce Survivor
  • Enough Abuse UK
  • Family Law Week
  • Family Lore
  • Flawbord
  • GeekLawyer's Blog
  • Head of Legal
  • Just for Kids Law
  • Kensington Mums
  • Law Diva
  • Legal Aid Barristers
  • Lib Dem Lords
  • Lords of The Blog
  • Overlawyered
  • PAIN
  • Paul Bernal's Blog
  • Public Law Guide
  • Pupillage Blog
  • Real Lawyers Have Blogs
  • Story of Mum
  • Sue Atkins, BBC Parenting Coach
  • The Barrister Blog
  • The Magistrate's Blog
  • The Not So Big Society
  • Tracey McMahon
  • UK Freedom of Information Blog
  • WardBlawg

Archives

  • Follow Following
    • Researching Reform
    • Join 8,014 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Researching Reform
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: