No fault divorce: 3,000 new applications received in first week
- Latest News
Annie Simmons
- 0
- 3 minutes read
Figures released by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) reveal that the introduction of no fault divorce has prompted an influx of new applications, with 3,000 recorded since the new Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into force last Wednesday.
Hannah Gumbrill-Ward, Family solicitor at Winckworth Sherwood, said that Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) had confirmed during an industry event that it received about 3,000 applications for divorce since the new law was introduced on 6th April.
“HMCTS has confirmed during an industry event that they have received around 3,000 applications for divorce since the new ‘no fault’ law was introduced last Wednesday. But how do these figures compare with applications made under the old law?
Looking back to the last family court statistics that were published at the end of March, in Q4 of 2021, there were around 1,890 petitions per week which was a drop from Q3, where that number was around 2,132 per week. Across the year, there were 107,724 divorce petitions filed in 2021, which averages out at about 2,072 a week. In 2020, that number was 111,996, so around 2,154 per week. Based on these figures, it does seem that some people were holding out for the introduction of no fault divorce before taking the plunge. It will be interesting to see how these figures pan out across the whole quarter, and whether this initial flurry slows down and levels out.
Will the annual figures for 2022 see an increase because people wanted to avoid the blame game and start the process off on a more amicable footing? We will have to wait and see.”
The new legislation now allows couples to divorce without assigning blame for the breakdown of the relationship for the first time, enabling a much quicker and straightforward divorce process, but has been met with criticism over failures to address financial issues.
Read more expert analysis and industry reaction to no fault divorce in the Features and Opinion sections of Today’s Family Lawyer.
