Parents Against Injustice
Parents Against Injustice
Judge demands review of damaging divorce laws
Judge demands review of damaging divorce laws
Outdated family laws have fuelled an “alarming” rise in marital breakdown, causing “profound” damage to millions of children, a High Court judge has warned.
Sir Paul Coleridge called for an independent commission to reform divorce law, arguing that family relationships are now “unrecognisable” from the 1950s, when the last review was conducted.
He condemned successive governments for “ducking” politically contentious reforms with the result that pre-nuptial agreements and cohabiting relationships were being legitimised by “stealth”.
Sir Paul, who sits as Mr Justice Coleridge in the family division of the High Court, said the current law governing divorce and cohabiting was “no longer fit for purpose”.
This week, an influential centre-Right think-tank warned that David Cameron had failed to do enough to support marriage and family life since becoming Prime Minister.
The Centre for Social Justice, which was founded by Iain Duncan Smith, said the Coalition had unfairly penalised middle-class parents and done “almost nothing” to address family breakdown.
In a speech to the Christian charity, Care, in London, Sir Paul warned that “coalition government will never tackle this stuff”.
Private law cases, including divorce and the break-up of unmarried couples, have risen by 35% in the past five years, with 135,000 new cases last year, an increase of 19% on the previous year, he said.
The last two years have seen a 31% rise in public law cases, reflecting more children being taken into care in the aftermath of the Baby P scandal.
Sir Paul estimated that 320,000 children enter the family law system each year, suggesting that more than 3 million children are now caught up in the legal process.
“The scale of the problem is genuinely alarming,” he said. “The incidence of family breakdown is so terribly high now that the way in which family law is shaped and managed has, I believe, a direct and profound impact on the private lives of huge numbers of the population.
“The effect of family breakdown is very far and deeply reaching on the future development of children both emotionally and materially.”
Yet despite the soaring rates of family breakdown, politicians have failed to address the issue, leaving law reform to the courts, who have tried to adjust their decisions to changes they notice in society, he said.
Such piecemeal changes included the increased rights to divorce settlements for wives, the ending of public hearings for divorce cases, the rise in “pre-nups”, and rights for unmarried couples.
It is “incredible and concerning” that there has been no high level inquiry into divorce reform since the Royal Commission of 1950, given how radically society has changed, Sir Paul said.
"The world we inhabit today is not the same world as we inhabited in 1950. Socially, society is unrecognisable. The norms of behaviour, the stigmas and the taboos have all changed or evaporated," he said.
“When the last major reform was introduced there was no such thing as cohabitation outside marriage." The current law is “a dead parrot” - it is “no longer fit for purpose”.
“Family law does shape society – but the law in this field is in desperate need of comprehensive, root-and-branch overhaul.
“We need a fresh look by an independent non-political commission.”
He said future reforms should examine the rights of unmarried partners, particularly mothers, and the introduction of pre-divorce information sessions for couples.
Nola Leach, Chief Executive of Care, backed the call for a new commission on family law.
“Family law impacts the lives of significant numbers of the UK population and is an area which merits serious reflection and action by the Government,” she said.
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