Divorce applications have reached their highest level for a decade after no-fault legislation was introduced in England and Wales. From April to June earlier this year, there were 33,566 divorce applications according to data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) - the highest level since the first quarter of 2012.
The vast majority of those (33,234) came under new legislation, which came into effect on April 6. The change allows couples to go through proceedings without apportioning blame.
Instead, a statement of irretrievable breakdown, made either individually or together, is seen as "conclusive evidence". This means there is no longer a need to cite adultery, unreasonable behaviour or desertion as grounds for divorce.
Despite an initial surge in applications, the changes are not expected to lead to an increase in the overall number of couples divorcing long-term, as in other countries where no-fault divorce was introduced, numbers remained constant after the initial rise. Also included in the law update was the introduction of a minimum period of 20 weeks for "meaningful" reflection, between starting proceedings and applying for a conditional order.
This is the first time the impact of a law change has been reflected in the quarterly MoJ family court statistics. As well as reaching the highest number of applications for more than a decade, it is also an increase of 22% from the same time-span in 2021.
More than three-quarters (78%) of these applications were made by sole applicants. Under the old divorce law, there were 19,758 decree absolutes (final orders) granted in the three-month period, down 35% from the same quarter last year.
The average time of proceedings saw an increase for those divorcing under the old law, with the average time from date of petition to receive a decree nisi (conditional order) rising to 36 weeks, a 12 week increase from the same period in 2021. Equally, the average time from date of petition to decree absolute rose by seven weeks to 56 weeks.
The reason for the increase in time frames has been cited as resourcing issues which have led to backlogs by the MoJ. It added it will not be commenting on the timeliness of new divorce cases until there have been substantial numbers of conditional and final orders, due to the new mandatory waiting periods.
