Manx government consults on ‘no fault’ divorce legislation
Bill based on Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill
The Manx government is consulting on draft legislation to amend the grounds for divorce, dissolution of civil partnerships and judicial separation. Leave was granted in October 2018 to Garff MHK Daphne Caine to introduce a Private Member's Bill by the House of Keys. The Bill, based on the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, introduced in the last Westminster parliamentary session, is aimed at implementing a simpler administrative process to obtain a divorce, dissolution of civil partnership or judicial separation in place of the detailed judicial scrutiny which is associated with the fault-based process currently used in the Isle of Man.
The draft Bill seeks to address the following key issues:
- that the current system includes elements that lead to conflict and difficulties, and this is at odds with other aspects of family law that look to put the needs of any children first and minimise potential for negative impact on them as well as on the couple; and
- that there is a balance between divorce being a considered decision and recognising that once there is irretrievable breakdown the process followed should then minimise conflict, stress and cost for the parties.
The government on the Isle of Man is now consulting in order to obtain the views of the Isle's community on modernising this area of family law. For more information concerning the consultation, click here. For the draft Bill, click here.
17/11/19
- Keywords:
- divorce