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.
Family Law News
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.
One of the UK’s most senior judges believes that adultery should be removed as a reason for divorce in order to create blame free divorces. Baroness Hale believes that such a development would end bitter divorce battles.
...The law should be changed to allow blame-free divorces in England according to leading charity group Resolution.
...The Government has announced that it has scrapped plans to increase the cost of beginning divorce proceedings in the UK following a consultation on the matter.
...According to research, a breakdown of family life and divorce have a significant effect on a child's personal life and exam results.
...Wife granted permission to appeal divorce agreement to Supreme Court
...Courts in Birmingham, Weston-super-mare and Coventry are the top three busiest divorce courts in England and Wales, according to new Government figures. Next on the list are courts in Romford, Leicester and Bristol as well as Norwich, Leeds, Chelmsford and Manchester.
...A new scheme has been launched to enable family disputes to be resolved by arbitration. This scheme has been set up by the newly formed Institute of Family Law Arbitrators (IFLA), a not for profit organisation, created by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), the Family Law Bar Association, and the family lawyers' group Resolution, in association with the Centre for Child and Family Law Reform.