Overstretched courts could see a glut of divorce cases this year as unhappy spouses take advantage of new laws meaning they no longer have to assign blame to end their marriage. Husbands and wives across England and Wales filed 22,683 divorce petitions in the three months to December last year, the latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show.
That was down from 30,454 over the same three months a year earlier, and was the lowest figure for any three-month period since comparable recorders began in 2003. It means the number of petitions fell by more than a quarter (26%), which was also the largest drop proportionally on record.
The MoJ said this may be down to people waiting for new “no-fault” divorce laws that come into force on Wednesday (April 6). The changes mean someone can divorce their partner without having to prove they have committed adultery, deserted them or behaved in an “unreasonable” way.
Other grounds for divorce, which mean a couple must separate for two years with consent or five years if one party does not agree to breaking things off, will no longer be necessary. The reforms are brought in by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act and have been described as the most significant shake-up of the divorce process for half a century.
It is hoped the removal of the need to assign blame in divorce cases will take some of the tension and bitterness out of an often distressing process for couples and families. However, the average time from someone filing a petition to getting a decree absolute – an order formally ending a marriage – was about a year (51.6 weeks) in 2021. That was similar to 51.0 weeks in 2020 but was shorter than 56.7 weeks in 2019.
The slight reduction in the time taken to finalise a divorce was partly driven by a rise in digital divorce cases, with MoJ figures showing an increasing proportion of petitions are being dealt with this way. But the average last year was still above the 45.7 weeks recorded in 2006, the earliest year with comparable figures.
The MoJ said the average timeliness figures can be inflated when long-running historical cases reach their conclusion. For this reason, the department also publishes the median waiting time – a measure that takes the middle value so it is not skewed by unusually lengthy cases.
According to those, the median time to conclude a divorce was 29.5 weeks in 2021, down from 34.5 weeks in 2020 and 31.6 weeks in 2006.
Stephanie Boyce, president of the Law Society, said “significant backlogs” in the family courts pre-dated the Covid-19 pandemic but had been compounded in the last two years. She added: “Delays can themselves cause significant harm as well as uncertainty for the parties involved. It has previously been estimated by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) that it may take three years to return to pre-pandemic levels, which is a great cause for concern, particularly for cases that concern children and family matters.”
The Law Society is calling for Nightingale courts set up during the pandemic to be boosted to allow more in-person hearings to take place, and more full-time judges to deal with caseloads. It also wants more legal aid provision to reduce the number of people who slow down court cases because they represent themselves rather than hiring legal representation – often because they cannot afford it.
Overall, 107,724 divorce petitions were filed in 2021, which was down 5% from 112,807 during the previous year. However, the number of decree absolutes granted rose by 10% over the period, from 103,989 to 113,920.
Commenting on the figures, an MoJ statistician said: “New matrimonial cases saw the largest drop in volume at the end of 2021 – this may be driven by the new divorce law that is coming into effect from April 2022. People wishing to divorce will no longer be required to specify grounds for divorce, including being separated for several years, and it may be considered beneficial to wait until that is possible rather than start proceedings before then.”
An MoJ spokesperson said: “Divorces can involve difficult decisions and it can take couples months to sort their differences but our new digital divorce system has been designed to handle a large volume of applications so that those who want a divorce can get one. We secured the largest funding increase in more than a decade last year, which will see over £300 million invested over the next three years to speed up cases in civil and family courts.”
