• The divorce law is changing.
• It will keep the sole ground of irretrievable breakdown of the relationship
• However it is no longer necessary to prove one of the five facts as previously meaning blame is no longer apportioned
• The divorce language will change, for example:
  • ‘Decree Nisi’ will become a ‘Conditional Order’
  • ‘Decree Absolute’ will become a ‘Final Order’
  • ‘Petitioner’ (the person submitting the application) will become the ‘applicant’
• It will be possible to have  joint applications where the couple both agree that the relationship has irretrievably broken down (applicants will still be able to submit a sole application if their partner does not agree)
• It will no longer be possible to contest a divorce, dissolution or separation
• There will be a new minimum period of 20 weeks from the start of proceedings to when the ‘Conditional Order’ can be made
• There will still be the 6 week period between the Conditional Order and when the Final Order can be made. This means it could be 6 months from start to finish of the proceedings.

Should you wait?

If you are ready to divorce now, I believe that it is advisable to issue a petition before the change as it may be quicker. Online divorces which are uncontested are currently taking around 3 months. Most of the time parties can agree the grounds for divorce between themselves.

However, for those without grounds or a husband/wife who is going to be unco-operative it would be better to wait as they would not under the new system be able to frustrate the divorce process.