Research highlights family law failings
Tuesday, 16th March 2010
Current family law legislation is “out of step” with modern families and should be amended to reflect the changing priorities of home life, new research has suggested.
Resolution, the family lawyer’s association, in conjunction with YouGov, surveyed over 2,100 adults across Great Britain, detailing their views on existing laws and political party proposals.
Almost three quarters of those surveyed believe that unhappily married couples should not stay together to protect their children, while 68% felt that couples should be able to divorce without blaming each other, challenging the negative views of divorce currently subscribed to by the media.
“Family break ups are a sad fact of modern life and the shape of the family has changed. Yet family law reform has been neglected”, said David Allison, Chair of Resolution. “Any Government that is serious about building Britain’s future must change the law.”
“Despite the fact that cohabitation is the fastest growing family type in the UK, the present government has only paid lip service to the idea of supporting families of all shapes and sizes and did not support Lord Lester’s recent Cohabitation Bill. By passing up the opportunity to reform the law for cohabiting couples it has allowed discrimination to persist in family law.”
Resolution, which represents over 5500 family lawyers, believes that couples must be able to divorce without blame after six months of separation and couples who live together must be given legal protection.
Other key findings from the survey include:
• 75% believe that marriages end irrespective of how hard or easy it is to get a divorce
• 68% were in favour of no-fault divorce
• 60% did not agree that making the divorce process harder would mean more people would stay married
• 4 out of 5 people agree that where one partner may have given up their career to look after the family they should be entitled to financial support if the relationship ends.
• 59% agreed that strengthening legal rights for cohabiting couples would encourage people to take financial responsibility for each other.
As the nation’s parties gear up for an election race, Resolution has called upon the future and existing government to introduce a “no-fault” divorce law and financial rights for cohabiting couples, placing family at the top of election agendas.
“Politicians need to stop using family life as a political football and engage instead with real solutions which support rather than judge families,” added Mr Allison.
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