No-Fault Legislation Will Reduce Stress, Cost of Divorce

On 2 March 2022, the Senate passed legislation aimed at reducing the stress and cost of obtaining a divorce by introducing “no-fault divorce” to Bermuda. This legislation will be the first of a “raft” of reforms that aim to modernise Bermuda’s current legislation, which is now almost 50 years old.

The current legislation requires divorcing couples to satisfy a judge that their marriage has broken down, by providing evidence of one of the five grounds:

1. adultery, making continuation of the marriage intolerable;
2. other unacceptable behaviour, that is intolerable;
3. desertion by the Respondent lasting two years;
4. separation for a period of two years with the Respondent’s consent; or
5. separation for a period of five years (without the need for consent).

An application that fails to provide evidence of one of those facts, and that the marriage has therefore broken down irretrievably will be refused, even in circumstances where both spouses agree that the marriage is at an end. The current rules, therefore, require families to engage in a costly and time-consuming exercise at a time when those funds (and energies) are almost certainly needed elsewhere to resolve their housing, child custody and financial arrangements.

 

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No-Fault Legislation Will Reduce Stress, Cost of Divorce

 

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This article was first published in The Royal Gazette.