What are the divorce laws now?

Dear What’s the Law.

What are the divorce laws now?

Apart from the law introduced to govern the breakdown of civil partnerships, divorce laws have essentially remained unchanged for some time.

The only ground upon which a party can obtain a divorce is that the marriage or civil partnership has irretrievably broken down. This means that the court will only grant a divorce or civil partnership dissolution if you or your partner can show that the marriage no longer exists on a permanent basis. For a marriage to have irretrievably broken down, evidence of at least one of the five grounds must be proved:

• adultery
• your partner has behaved unreasonably
• your partner deserted you at least two years ago
• you’ve lived apart for at least two years if you both agree to the divorce
• you’ve lived apart for at least five years if one of you doesn’t agree to the divorce.

To get divorced in England and Wales, the marriage must be recognised as valid by United Kingdom law and you must meet rules about how long you’ve been living in the country.

Whilst divorce laws have not changed substantively in recent years, the Law Commission is to review the law on financial provision where a marriage or civil partnership breaks down. It will look at two areas of law that cause particular difficulties.

These are: the extent to which one party should be required to meet the other’s needs after the relationship ends; and the way in which non-matrimonial property should be treated on divorce or dissolution. Non-matrimonial property includes property that has been inherited, received as a gift or acquired before the marriage or civil partnership.