Advisers to Lord Irvine warn on divorce law changes

The Government's decision to scrap its plans for "no-fault" divorces will cause couples "distress and anger" as well harm children, the Lord Chancellor is being warned by his own advisers.

A committee of lawyers, judges and marriage experts, which guides Lord Irvine of Lairg on family law matters, describes the switch in Government policy as "deeply disappointing" because couples will be forced to continue to find acrimonious grounds if they want to obtain a divorce in less than two years.

The chairman of the Family Law Advisory, Sir Thomas Boyd-Carpenter, criticises Lord Irvine for having abandoned plans to introduce no-fault divorces when results from a pilot study found that one stage in the new process was not as successful as hoped.

Sir Thomas, a former deputy chief of the defence staff, concludes in the board's annual report that while the no-fault proposals were not perfect, they were "good enough to put into effect and subsequently refine".

The board says: "Given the difficulties inherent in introducing new legislation on a topic of this sensitivity, we firmly believed that this course was preferable to an indefinite continuance of the status quo."

Of grave concern to the board, the membership of which includes Mr Justice Wall, a highly respected family law judge, is the effect the policy will have on children whose parents want to divorce quickly.

The board says: "In practice, to have to allege unreasonable behaviour or adultery by the other person, who may not want a divorce, can give rise to unnecessary conflict.

Laws intended to allow "no fault" divorces were scrapped by the Government in January amid bitter criticism from lawyers and marriage counsellors. The announcement meant couples who want to divorce in less than two years will have to continue to prove adultery, unreasonable behaviour or one of the other three grounds for ending a marriage.

The no-fault divorce legislation, first tabled in 1996 by the Conservatives and then adopted by Labour, had been criticised for making divorce too easy and undermining the institution of marriage.

But Lord Irvine's advisers say: "If the Government is serious about saving saveable marriages then further consideration also needs to be given to ways of helping individuals whose relationships are in difficulty at much earlier stages. Such help is not just needed by those who are married as unmarried people in committed relationships or who are parents have similar needs."

Last week the Government gave its clearest sign yet that it does not intend to allow quicker divorces by removing blame from the legal process. A spokesman for the Lord Chancellor's Department said the "focus of reform should not be about a dogma of fault or no fault". He added: "Legislation is not the only way, there are other ways of bringing about the principles [of the Family Law Act]." He stressed that the law already allowed for a "mixed system" of divorce.