Delay to introduction of no fault divorces

Advocates specialising in family law are still unaware of how agreed changes to the divorce laws will work in practice and do not expect to find out until the law comes into effect.

But it has been announced that the introduction of the new laws, which will enable ‘no fault’ divorces, has been delayed.

It was expected that the Matrimonial Causes (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022, would have come into effect at the end of last year. Now it is expected by the end of June.

The States said that the implementation process was taking longer than expected due to the prioritisation of more urgent legislation.

The States Assembly approved the changes in July 2022 and Royal Assent for the new laws was obtained at the end of that year.

The aim of the reform was to modernise and simplify the legislation to try to reduce unnecessary conflict. The new legislation will introduce ‘no fault’ divorce, remove the ability to contest a divorce, and remove the requirement for the court to consider reconciliation.

There are a lot of people waiting for the changes so that they can proceed with a ‘no fault’ divorce, said Advocate Liz Couch, joint head of the Family Bar.

‘What has not yet been published or previewed are the final rules that will scaffold it,’ she said. ‘We don’t have the rules of procedure.’

Once in place, the new law will remove the need for blame to be assigned to either party in order to dissolve a marriage.

‘That’s something that’s been long-awaited and will be very much welcomed,' she said. ‘The current law dates back to 1939 and is incredibly out-dated.’

Under the law as it stands, an uncontested divorce means a couple having to wait two years but contested actions were relatively rare.

‘It should be a more amicable process,’ said Advocate Couch. ‘That can only help where there are children involved.’

She did not think the actual time it would take for a divorce to go through would change significantly.

‘All a divorce does is dissolve your marriage, there are then the issues of where the children will live, how much contact they have and how the finances are resolved.

‘As things stand at the moment there is a petitioner and a respondent and the whole [new] process is designed to try to move to a situation where it’s less contentious and blame-filled.’