Judge Free Divorces

You may have seen in the national press reports that the Head of the Family Division Sir James Munby has suggested that divorce will be made easier by making it an administrative process that could be dealt with by the same Registrar who marries you and issues birth certificates.

This may be considered a sensible idea but the Judge also stressed it would only be appropriate in cases of divorce by agreement and where there were no children.

 This in itself is surprising and recent changes in divorce procedure which came into force on 22 April mean that divorce Judges no longer consider the arrangements for the children of the marriage at all.

It is important that the public understand that this all relates just to the process of ending the marriage.  It does not relate to the financial matters.  It is the discussion of financial matters such as the ownership or sale of the house, the payment of maintenance and division of pensions that causes the most disputes and expense in divorce situations.