The Queen's Speech 2019: Focus on Family Law

What the re-introduction of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill will mean for couples and families in 2019 and beyond

The Queen’s Speech 2019 outlined a number of key measures that aim to ensure “fairness and protection for individuals and families.”

One key point that was mentioned was the re-introduction of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill. The idea of the bill was to remove unnecessary conflict during the divorce process. It recognises that often children can be left caught in the middle of a divorce, ensuring the need to support them. However, it also seeks to ensure the decision to divorce remains a carefully considered decision.

He current process may “incentivise one spouse to make allegations about the other’s conduct to avoid otherwise waiting to divorce on the basis of at least two years of separation. Such allegations can set the scene for acrimony and conflict during the legal process and afterwards.’ It is this which can be so harmful to families.

This is recognised in the ‘Family Impact Assessment,’ which is a test ensures that the ‘impact on families is considered when the Government develops policies. This includes all types of family relationship and structure, including extended families, with a particular focus on children and their parents who may be living together or living apart’. 
 The bill places children and the needs and best interests of the child at the heart of the divorce process. Divorce and the conflict which may come with it is damaging to children’s life chances. It seeks to maximise those life chances by fostering an environment that promotes co-operative parenting and positive parenting relationships.

The Government also states it will work closely with the Family Mediation Council, the aim being to to look at ways to ‘help promote greater understanding of family mediation and its benefits, and signposting separating or divorcing couples and parents to mediation services at the earliest possible stage’.

This will include ‘exploring why some cases come to court and others do not, and how to incentivise family-led solutions as an alternative to court imposed ones, where that is safe and in the interests of children and victims of domestic abuse’. 


You can find out more at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-2019-what-it-means-for-you/queens-speech-2019-what-it-means-for-you–3

And you can download a pdf fact sheet on the divorce, dissolution and separation Bill and what it means for you here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/839994/divorce-bill-fact-sheet.pdf