The government needs to address imbalances in the family law system, says Geraldine Morris
The government recently announced its programme of legislation. What is notably missing from that programme is long overdue reform relating to the institution central to society—the family. Cohabitant reform is on the back burner. Divorce reform was abandoned with the failure to implement key provisions of the Family Law Act 1996. Financial provision on divorce (and dissolution of civil partnership) is still subject to 35-year-old legislation, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (MCA 1973), save for piecemeal amendments.
One wonders what will make the government reform outdated aspects of family law when practitioners and judiciary alike repeatedly highlight its inadequacies? The answer may be found at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
One of the most radical pieces of family legislation in recent years is the Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA 2004). When considered in the context of the current lack of reform, the circumstances in which GRA 2004 came into being
