The highest court in the land, the Supreme Court has decided that the present law about divorce and unreasonable behaviour should continue.  

The court decided that Mrs Owens should not be granted a divorce from Mr Owens because her petition based upon his behaviour was not strong enough. This goes against many people, including divorce lawyers who would like to have divorce based upon, ‘no fault’.

 This means that if a party is going to rely on unreasonable behaviour then that unreasonable behaviour must be strong enough and robust enough for the court to agree that a divorce should be allowed. It is imperative therefore that the divorce petition is drafted by a professional who knows where the benchmark is in terms of the court’s perception of, ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

 The law will doubtless change one day, but for the time being lawyers drafting unreasonable behaviour divorce petitions must make sure that on the one hand they are not offensive, but on the other hand they are not so weak that a divorce is denied.

 

Caption: Andrew Brooks