Friday 16 August 2019
A change to the law governing how couples divorce, legally separate and annul a marriage has been published today on behalf of the Policy & Resources Committee, to be considered by the States of Deliberation in September 2019.
The suggested changes to the legislation are in response to a decision made by the States in 2009.
The purpose of the Amendment is to extend the powers of the Royal Court to make orders relating to the division of assets between spouses on divorce, judicial separation or nullity, to help to reduce some of the conflict and challenge that occurs during this aspect of the process.
The change to the law is being progressed now, as opposed to being included in the wider work on reforming the same law which is currently underway. It is viewed that making these small changes to the law, sooner rather than later, would be of greater benefit to those members of the community going through the process of divorce, judicial separation or annulment, before the wider reforms are in place.
The States will consider the wider reforms later in 2019, following which it may take some time for those reforms to be implemented, as it will need to go through the relevant legislation prioritisation and approvals.
If the published Amendment is approved by the States then, once enacted, it will ensure that the Court is further enabled to ensure fairness, and therefore justice, in matrimonial proceedings, in terms of how assets are shared between parties.
