When someone as senior as Lord Justice Munby talks about taking Judges and the court out of the divorce process, it is time for us all to sit up and listening, if we have not be listening already.
Outside, the Royal Courts of Justice today, Lord Justice Munby spoke of a move towards a no fault divorce process making divorce an administrative matter dealt with at a register of birth, death, marriages (and divorces).
This, he explained would reflect the reality of what happens in any event where the parties to a divorce generally agree the ground for divorce and even the behaviour particulars.
He talked of contested divorces being ” almost invisible” since they hardly ever happen in reality. He said that removing contested divorces from the current system would bring with it an ” intellectual honesty”.
He went on to comment on some of the injustices of the current law on co-habitation, referring particularly to the case of some women who he described as being “thrown on to the scrap heap”, having lost their earning potential during a long co-habitation while caring for the children, which could not currently be taken into account, unlike the case if the same women had been married.
All this coincides with current discussion and consultation on creating guidelines for financial outcomes so as to create a far more predictable basis for divorcing couples to work out financial agreements following separation.
It seems to me that we are seeing not just a cultural shift but a cultural revolution in the field of family law with an emphasis on empowerment and self determination of the individuals leading to more accountability and responsibility being placed at the door of the separation couple.
Enter mediation, where the emphasis is on supporting the couple to “separate together”, supporting their children through the separation process, using the services of a professional facilitator, to help them focus on diffusing and resolving differences and working out their own agreements.
Since last Tuesday 22 April, everyone must now attend a mediation information meeting with a mediator before making a court application to find out all about mediation. Only then can they make aninformed decision about the best way to separate.