Family Law News

One of the UK’s most senior family law judges has said that couples may be able to complete their divorces online by 2017.

A woman is campaigning to update the adultery laws and the grounds for divorce in the UK after she was unable to divorce her husband citing adultery.

The woman, who spoke to a BBC Radio Four show stated that when she contacted her lawyer to begin divorce proceedings on grounds of adultery against her husband who had been having an affair, she was unable to as he had only had an affair with members of the same sex. Under UK law adultery can only occur with a member of the opposite sex and must involve vaginal intercourse. Therefore, she was unable to divorce her husband on said grounds.

Following the breakdown of her marriage of over 20 years, the woman was forced to cite unreasonable behaviour as the reason for the divorce.

An appeal has been launched by two women who stated that they were tricked into accepting sub-par divorce settlements due to their former husbands lying about their wealth.

Varsha Gohil and Alison Sharland are both seeking to reopen their case as they felt that they were duped into taking a settlement offer after their former husbands misled them and the court. This week the cases have been reexamined by the Supreme Court with a judgement expected in the next year.

The law should be changed to allow blame-free divorces in England according to leading charity group Resolution.

According to research, a breakdown of family life and divorce have a significant effect on a child's personal life and exam results.

The Government is to act on one of the recommendations made in the Law Commission’s ‘Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements’ report, and produce new guidelines for divorcing couples on what they should expect when property and income is distributed by the courts.

According to a recent study from America, divorce can be contagious, reports the Pew Research Centre.