CI: ‘NI no-fault divorce proposals risk silencing female victims of violence’

Proposals to liberalise divorce laws in Northern Ireland risk silencing female victims of marital abuse, The Christian Institute has warned.

The CI’s Northern Ireland Policy Officer, James Kennedy, questioned whether removing ‘fault’ grounds for divorce is compatible with the Executive’s commitment to ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls’ (VAWG).

Last month, the Province’s Department of Finance launched a consultation on making divorce quicker and easier in Northern Ireland. It claimed that the proposals will make the experience of divorce less “stressful” and “challenging”.

Irreconcilable

Criticising the plans, Mr Kennedy observed: “The Executive says it is committed to its ‘Ending Violence Against Women and Girls’ framework. It says victims are to be given a voice and perpetrators held to account.

“Under the current divorce law, those who have suffered ill-treatment can make their case and have their suffering recognised in court. The proposal to remove ‘fault’ grounds would make this impossible.

“Previous legal reviews have said the fault grounds should be maintained for these very reasons. How could the Executive reconcile such changes with its VAWG commitments?”

A review of Northern Ireland’s divorce laws in 2017 recommended maintaining ‘fault’ grounds to allow a victim of domestic violence and abuse — usually female — “to exercise the right to a public hearing of what she has suffered”.

‘Therapeutic step’

A recent article in the Law Society Gazette reflected that the new ‘no-fault’ system in England and Wales, introduced in 2022, had resulted in “unintended consequences” and “moved blame further along” the legal process.

Senior family lawyer at HCR Law, James Grigg, explained: “Previously, being able to apportion blame at the start of the process by citing a spouse’s adultery or unreasonable behaviour was important to many people on a psychological level, serving as a therapeutic step in the healing process.

“The removal of fault in the divorce regime, as a legal concept, is straightforward. However, removing it from the human psyche is far more complicated.”