As of 6 April 2022, the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, which removes any notion of fault from the divorce process, has come into force. Couples are now free to get divorced without even giving a reason.
Supporters of this change claim that it will have no effect on divorce rates and will indeed even be beneficial to the welfare of children by mitigating the conflict involved in raking up past faults as part of the divorce process. However, the evidence contradicts this.
Firstly, past liberalisation of divorce laws both in the UK and abroad has led to a significant rise in couples getting divorced. The numbers of divorces rose dramatically in the years following the 1969 Divorce Reform Act which significantly liberalised the divorce law. In the 25 years following the passing of that Act, divorces rose from 51,310 to as high as 165,018. Since 1972 the number of divorces has only once fallen below 100,000 per year.1 A Canadian survey of no-fault divorce laws found an average increase in divorce of around 10%.2 This survey explained that ‘These changes in divorce rates are not caused by a lower cost of divorcing, but because the law allows one party to unilaterally leave.’3 The famous study of Leora Friedberg in The American Economic Review found an increase in divorce rates of 17%4 while a study from Germany surveying the introduction of no fault divorce in different European countries between the 1960s and the beginning of the 21st century found divorce to have risen by as much as 20% across Europe.5
As regards the effect on children, numerous studies have shown the damage that divorce can have on a child’s well-being. A recent study in the journal Demographic Research found that divorce often has a bigger impact on educational attainment than even the death of a parent.6
The famous Exeter Family Study found:
Divorce does not usually reduce conflict for the children, in fact the opposite is the case…the experience of most children whose parents divorce is increased conflict over an extended period with the child involved to an extent that may not have been the case previously. After divorce children are often at the heart of disputes in a way they never were before… After divorce, children are at the very centre of conflict between ex-spouses.7
A 25-year study by psychologist Judith Wallerstein found that as adults many of the children of divorced parents were still extremely angry that they had not been informed of the cause of their parents’ divorce. This study states:
Those whose reluctant visits to a parent were rigidly enforced by a court order during their adolescence remained especially angry. They rejected contact with that parent after they reached age 18 and often did not resume contact during the decades that followed.8
A research article, drawing on studies from around the world, published in the Journal of Clinical and Medical Genomics states that among the children of divorce:
…there is a higher frequency of depression, violence, learning and social deterioration, and high risk for suicidal attempts.9
An overview of studies published by the Marriage and Religion Research Institute found that the children of divorce have higher rates of drug use, crime, and teenage pregnancy. The study also found ‘the strongest demographic indicator of suicide is the family structure within which a person resides: the divorced family structure has the highest suicide rate’.10
The Family Education Trust’s booklet Marriage and Divorce in the liberal imagination also illustrated the negative effect of divorce on parents:
Divorce and separation are associated with increased risk of earlier mortality. Divorced men also have higher rates of substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support. Divorced people are at greater risk of death from coronary heart disease and stroke.11
Given the evidence, the claim that the new divorce legislation will have no significant adverse effects and will even lead to a reduction in family conflict should be seen as dangerously wrong-headed.
For a thorough refutation of the myths about easy divorce order a copy of our publication Marriage and Divorce in the liberal imagination