A major two-year study is to be launched into the current law on divorce and civil partnership dissolution.
The Nuffield Foundation has agreed to fund the research, which will look at the issue of “fault” in the law of separation. It will include three main elements: a survey of public attitudes towards the grounds for divorce and potential law reform among 2,000 adults and 1,000 recently divorced adults; a study into how the courts investigate petitions alleging adultery or unreasonable behaviour; and an explanation of the petitioning process from the perspective of the parties and their lawyers. For the research, a qualitative sample of at least 75 cases will need to be tracked for more than a year, and lawyers will be invited to take part in focus groups.
More information is available from Professor Liz Trinder at Exeter Law School (e.j.trinder@exeter.ac.uk)
