Divorce applications highest in a decade after no-fault law introduced

Divorce applications have reached their highest level in a decade as the no-fault law comes into force.

On April 6, new legislation came into effect in England and Wales enabling couples to go through divorce proceedings without apportioning blame either individually or together.

The impact of the change can be seen in the quarterly Ministry of Justice (MoJ) family court statistics, as family lawyers said the wait for the new legislation to come into force led to “a spike in pent up demand”.

The data show that there were 33,566 divorce applications in April to June, with the vast majority made under the new legislation and from sole applicants.

MoJ figures also showed the number of divorce applications between April and June rose to the highest level since the first quarter of 2012 and is up 22 per cent from the same period last year.

In contrast, there were 30,238 divorce petitions made during January to March this year, before the new legislation came into effect.

However, the statistics showed that of the applications between April and June, the vast majority – 33,234 out of a total 33,566 – were made under the new law. More than three-quarters of these applications were by sole applicants.

‘A number of people clearly waited’

Neil Russell, the head of the family department at Seddons, said: “One quarter in from April 6 and the introduction of no-fault divorce, divorce applications have increased by over 20 per cent.

“Considering that 2021 saw an increase of seven per cent in the same period from 2020, on the face of it the statistics show that the divorce rates continue to be on the rise. However, it must be taken into account that a number of people clearly waited in the first quarter of 2022 to be able to proceed with no-fault divorce, so this may explain the surge.”

Simon Blain, a partner at Forsters, urged caution, saying: “It is always dangerous to extrapolate from a single quarter’s statistics. Increased digitalisation has led to significant changes in the way courts manage family law cases, which will have an impact on the data collected.

“The courts continue to work through significant backlogs following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Nonetheless, the standout statistic is the increase in divorce applications since the introduction of no-fault divorce on April 6 2022.

“We are told that this is the highest quarterly figure for new divorce cases in a decade. Time will tell whether the increase is sustained, which would suggest that, as some feared, a simplified online divorce procedure will lead to higher levels of divorce.

“Much more likely is that a combination of a return to normal following the pandemic and well-publicised and popular new legislation meant that people waited for the new legislation before commencing divorce proceedings, leading to a spike as this pent up demand was released after April 6.

“If that premise is correct, one would expect to see levels of new divorce applications returning to normal over the next two to three quarters.”

Under the old divorce law, there were 19,758 decree absolutes – final orders – granted in April to June, down 35 per cent from the same quarter in 2021.

The MoJ said the increased timeframes had been impacted by resourcing problems that have led to backlogs.

It said it would not be commenting on the timeliness of new divorce cases until there have been substantial numbers of conditional and final orders, because of the new mandatory waiting periods.