Elizabeth Wyatt

Following the announcement by the Justice Secretary of the Government’s consultation and plan to ‘end the blame game’, how will this affect the future of divorce?

Any measure created in contemplation of divorce, or within a relatively short period before it, is potentially reviewable by the court if it is intended to defeat a spouse’s claim for financial relief.

Arising from the recent Family Division announcement, people who think they are legally divorced may in fact still be married.

I have just finished watching the lovely Christopher Eccleston on BBC iPlayer’s Come Home (#spoileralert in case you haven’t seen it yet). It’s about a family where, rather unusually, the mother leaves the marriage, her home and most shockingly, her children.

The statutory ground for divorce under the 1973 Matrimonial Causes Act, amended by the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, is the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage of at least one year’s duration.

Despite allegations of aged old paternalism, courts are increasingly turning to empowerment of the litigants to reach an agreement themselves, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming final hearings.

In the context of society at large, the law continues to be a relatively conservative entity that is not always entirely at ease with the more recently recognised family set up.

In the absence of adultery or long periods of separation, those who want to end their marriage need to detail allegations of unreasonable behaviour on the part of their spouse.

Devaluations Over the last few days, the plummeting value of sterling and the volatility in the stock markets have been big news. Markets hate uncertainty and at the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty about and this is a feature that will remain for some time.