Family Law News

A study has revealed that there has been a substantial increase in the number of people obtaining a divorce after the age of 60 than ever before.

The rise of the number of people obtaining a divorce later on in life certainly does not appear to be a new trend with the number of people getting divorced after 60 rising since the early 1990s. The continued rise in those aged 60 plus obtaining a divorce comes despite the decline in the number of divorces seen in the rest of the UK age demographics.

According to The Times, divorce centres will open in England and Wales that will aim to make getting a divorce as easy as obtaining a TV licence.

The move will effectively allow couples to get an “over the counter” divorce with the 120,000 seen in the UK being taken out of the UK court system and away from the public eye. The centres will aim to conclude a divorce in 48 hours and handle the vast majority of UK cases with the vast amount of paperwork being dealt with by administrators rather than judges.

Under the current divorce system in England and Wales, uncontested divorces cost around £400 and last on average 33 weeks.

Social media is a major catalyst in divorces in the UK according to a recent report conducted by Slater and Gordon.

The survey comes following the questioning of over 2,000 married Britons and revealed the growth in the power of social media, and the impact it is having on marriages across the UK. The survey found that one in seven of those questioned would consider a divorce due to the behaviour of their partner on social media.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin have filed for divorce after announcing they had split up over a year ago.

The Coldplay frontman and Hollywood actress announced they had "consciously uncoupled" in March 2014 after ten years of marriage. The couple had two children together but took significant time before officially filing the papers.

There have been mixed reports on the settlement agreement between the couples with some stating that their business managers and solicitors have been left to argue the details, with others reporting that everything has been split equally.

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.