England, UK . 17.5.2018. London . Parliament. Senior family lawyers call on the Government to reform outdated divorce laws and end the blame game as landmark Owens v Owens divorce case heads to the Supreme Court. Licensed for editorial and PR use free of charge in connection with this event, all other rights reserved. Copyright © 2018 Andrew Wiard T: +44 (0) 7973 219201 W: www.reportphotos.com E: andrew@reportphotos.com

Together, we ended the blame game

No-fault divorce finally became law in April 2022 meaning separating couples no longer have to play the blame game in order to be granted a divorce. It comes after more than 30 years of campaigning by Resolution members to ensure more separating families can achieve amicable agreements.

No-fault divorce becomes law

After years of campaigning, no-fault divorce finally became reality when the new blame free divorce process went live on 6 April 2022. It comes after the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill received Royal Assent in June 2020.

The biggest change to divorce laws in our lifetime now means separating couples will no longer have to assign blame in order to be granted a divorce. It gives you – our members – a better chance of helping couples to resolve the consequences of their relationship breakdown with minimal conflict.

This is a huge achievement for Resolution which involved working closely with ministers and officials at the Ministry of Justice to ensure the legislation passed.

As the Bill received Royal Assent, Resolution National Chair Juliet Harvey welcomed the imminent end of the blame game alongside the Secretary of State for Justice Robert Buckland.

Thank you for everyone who has supported the campaign in any capacity over the years.

Resolution will, of course, support members and ensure they have the information and guidance about these changes as no-fault divorce comes into effect. Members can watch a webinar about the new divorce process here.

Highlights of the campaign

  • 150

    Resolution members

    attended our lobby of Parliament in 2016 to make MPs aware of the damaging impact fault based divorce has on separating families.

  • 3

    Main political parties

    made manifesto commitments during the 2019 General Election to introduce no-fault divorce, including the Conservative and Labour parties.

  • 394

    MPs voted

    in favour of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill in June 2020, demonstrating support from across the political spectrum.

Thank you for helping us to end the blame game

Long-time campaigner for no-fault divorce Nigel Shepherd shares his thanks to everyone who supported the Bill in this special video.