Ex-justice secretary calls for 'no-fault divorce' law change
1 min read
An ex-Lord Chancellor has called for a change to divorce laws to allow for ‘no-fault’ marriage breakups.
Lord Falconer said there was “absolutely no doubt” the rules should be changed to prevent spouses having to justify their demand for divorce with examples of their partner’s behaviour.
The Labour peer - who served as justice secretary under Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007 - cited the case of a woman who was refused divorce despite providing 27 examples of her husband's behaviour.
“The idea that you have to provide some form of matrimonial offence to establish irretrievable breakdown of a marriage is antediluvian in the extreme,” he told the Times.
“It is absolutely ridiculous, the idea that a court has got to be satisfied as to whether conditions amount to unreasonable behaviour or adultery.”
He added: “It strikes me as stuck in a past that has gone and needs to be changed.”
Critics argue such a change would encourage relationship breakdowns but Lord Falconer said it was “rather a more sensible way of reflecting the way society is now”.
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