The Family Law Act 1996 (c. 27) is an act of Parliament of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

governing divorce law and marriage. The law intends to modernise

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

and to shift slightly towards "no fault" divorce from the fault-based approach of the

Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c. 18) is an act of the United Kingdom governing divorce law and marriage in England and Wales. Contents The act contains four parts: # Divorce, Nullity and Other Matrimonial Suits # Financial Relief for Part ...

. The main part of the act, dealing with divorce, was not proceeded with after pilot schemes found that it did not work well.

Part I of the act sets out the philosophical approach to divorce. Part II set out a procedure for divorce which required spouses seeking divorce to attend a preliminary Information Session and to seek mediation as a first step. Part II and related sections of other parts were repealed and partially replaced by section 18 of the Children and Families Act 2014 after they were abandoned in practice in 1999. Part III of the act concerns provision of

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

for mediation in family law and divorce. Part IV set out the mechanisms and principles related to family homes (in particular notices affecting land given under the

Land Registration Act 2002 The Land Registration Act 2002 (c. 9) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which repealed and replaced previous legislation governing land registration, in particular the Land Registration Act 1925, which governed an earlier, though ...

as amended), occupation orders, non-molestation orders and

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

orders and principles. Sections 30 and 31 concern the award of a statutory licence to occupy a home. Part IVA contains provisions related to

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...

. This was added by the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007. Part V contains supplemental sections.

Reception

The divorce sections of the Act received a great deal of media discussion and criticism, with some seeing the new approach to divorce as encouraging "quickie" divorces (although in practice, a fault-based divorce under the old scheme could be completed much quicker than under this Act). The political commentator Anne McElvoy welcomed the abandonment of the Act's divorce sections seeing the extensive waiting periods and required mediation as an intrusive compromise between a proper "no fault" divorce system and the needs of "family fundamentalists".

Related developments

Following the decision by the

UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

in ''

Owens v Owens ''Owens v Owens'/nowiki> UKSC 41] was a Supreme Court of the United Kingdom case involving the divorce of Mr and Mrs Owens, a couple who had married in 1978. The Supreme Court upheld a decision made at trial, and previously upheld by the Court o ...

'', in February 2019 Secretary of State for Justice, Justice Secretary David Gauke said that he would introduce legislation enacting no-fault divorce in the next session of Parliament.

References

United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1996 Family law in the United Kingdom Property law of the United Kingdom {{UK-statute-stub

Contents

Reception

Related developments

See also

References