Category: Finding Fault

The Finding Fault research study on the operation of the divorce law and the need for reform in England & Wales. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation and led by Professor Liz Trinder from Exeter University.

Baroness Butler-Sloss Private Member’s Bill

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Baroness Butler-Sloss has introduced the Divorce (etc.) Law Review Bill in the House of Lords. The Bill places a duty on the Lord Chancellor to review the law on the ground for divorce and civil partnership dissolution in England & Wales and to report to parliament. The review must include consideration of a replacement scheme set out in a Schedule. That scheme would replace the much-criticised five facts (adultery, behaviour, desertion, two year’s separation with consent, five year’s separation) with a fair and transparent notification scheme.

The Bill was drafted by a retired parliamentary drafter with support from the Nuffield Foundation as an extension of the Finding Fault research.

The Bill and Explanatory Notes are available on the Bill’s parliamentary homepage.

 

Launch of the Finding Fault report in the Lords

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The Finding Fault report was launched in the House of Lords yesterday. Delighted to welcome so many guests who had helped to make the research possible or are interested in supporting the cause of divorce law reform. Many thanks to Lord Fowler for enabling us to use the magnificent River Room, Baroness Butler-Sloss for being a wonderful host and to Sir Ernest Ryder and the Nuffield Foundation for supporting the research. And delighted to welcome Lady Hale who was the major contributor to the Law Commission’s 1990 report ‘The Ground for Divorce’. As Finding Fault makes clear, the problems identified in that 1990 report are still much in evidence, in some respects even more pronounced.

Finding Fault – interim research findings

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Finding Fault? is a major research study of how the current divorce law works in practice. The study is funded by the Nuffield Foundation. It is led by Professor Liz Trinder (Exeter University) with Mark Sefton, Bryson Purdon Social Research, OnePlusOne and Kantar Public UK. The study includes:
• a national opinion survey on divorce law, including a sample of divorcees
• interviews with people going through divorce
• interviews and focus groups with family lawyers
• observations and interviews with legal advisers and judges scrutinising divorce cases
• analysis of court files
A final report will be published in Autumn 2017.

Click here to read the interim research findings