Chapter 3 Key facts checklists

Divorce, dissolution, and judicial separation

Divorce is the legal end of a marriage. A civil partnership is ended by dissolution.
The only ground for a divorce or dissolution is irretrievable breakdown.
Five facts can be used to prove a marriage has irretrievably broken down: adultery, behaviour, desertion, two years’ separation with consent, and five years’ separation.
You cannot use adultery to prove that a civil partnership has irretrievably broken down, but the other four facts can be used. Adultery does apply to same sex marriages but it must involve a man and a woman: it cannot be between two people of the same sex.
Behaviour, adultery, and desertion are fault-based: one party is blamed for the breakdown of the marriage. The two types of separation do not involve blaming one party.
Under the current law, behaviour and adultery allow for the quickest divorces. This means that divorce based on fault is quicker than no-fault divorce. This has led to a number of calls for reform.
Judicial separation can be used as an alternative to divorce. It grants the court power to make orders relating to finances (except for pensions) and to children but it does not bring the marriage to an end.
In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on resolving family law disputes outside of courts. Following the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), there has been a great deal of Government support for mediation.