The well-publicised law change may well embolden people to apply for their own divorce or dissolution before speaking to a solicitor at all. That could lead to unnecessary risk for them though. Notwithstanding the ease of the application, there are a few bear traps in the process. Prevention is definitely better than cure and early legal advice can cost effectively help people avoid those traps. Corrective legal work at a later date will almost certainly be more costly and this would make work for lawyers.”
Graham Coy also believes that this law change will also mean people seek legal advice later. He says:
“As well as potentially encouraging more people to go it alone, the no-fault divorce process will also signpost mediation more strongly. Mediators are not advisors and they will continue to tell people they should seek legal advice alongside mediation to support the process. Legal advice is vital to, for example, support informed decisions about negotiations and settlement offers. No-fault divorce does not change this. If, though, people arrive at mediation without legal advice, and don’t heed the mediator’s recommendation to consult a lawyer, they may not seek legal advice until their case is at a relatively advanced stage.
A trend in simple cases becoming unnecessarily complicated. The fact that it will no longer be necessary to blame someone for the end of a relationship, does not change the legal complexity of the divorce/dissolution process itself. If the predicted trend in timing is borne out, and people endeavour to navigate the legal landscape without legal advice they will run into problems, often without even knowing it.
A trend in people exposing themselves to unnecessary legal risk. Not knowing when or how to proceed, but doing it anyway is clearly inherently risky.”
He adds: “The new law removes the need to attribute blame. This makes the divorce/dissolution process sound simple, but it’s not.
Perhaps it is a good thing but the new law provides no real way to defend the divorce, though it could be contested on a few technical grounds.
Specialist family lawyers are worried about the potential for divorces to complete before financial matters have been properly resolved. Being a current (albeit separated) spouse is legally hugely different to being a former spouse. The new law provides (as per the old) for the final order to be delayed if finances are outstanding, but very few people doing it themselves will know about this.
If the spouse applying for divorce doesn’t send a copy of the court application to their spouse within 28 days this will significantly reduce the time available for the respondent spouse to deal. They could find themselves only 16 weeks away from a conditional order having only just discovered they are to be divorced.
As it stands, it will take a minimum of 26 weeks to obtain a divorce. That’s longer than the current process which will be frustrating for some people. There should be some provision for reducing this timescale in certain cases.
Aside from no-fault divorce, financial family law matters have the greatest need for review and reform. This is currently being debated in Parliament. Promises have been made that review will start within weeks. Nobody working in family law is holding their breath for this!”
