The new ‘no-fault’ divorce comes info force on 6 April.

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 introduces the new law which covers marriage, civil partnership and nullity. This provides a 26-week timeframe between commencement of divorce proceedings and the final divorce order being made.

Some problems in its implementation and practice include the significant impact on the respondent who’ll have less than the 26-week period of notification of the existence of any proceedings.

At present, divorce is a two-stage process, the decree nisi when the court is satisfied the grounds for the divorce have been shown and then six weeks later the decree absolute, the final divorce.

The first decree is now to be known as the conditional order. The second decree will be the divorce order.

The process starts with the filing of the divorce application at the court.  The major feature of the new divorce law is that the initial application can be filed by either party or both together.