On today's BBC News at 12pm, Family and Divorce Partner, Harriet Errington spoke with news presenter, Joanna Gosling to explain the new 'no fault divorce' legislation and how this will impact divorce proceedings, the division of finances following divorce and the arrangements for the children.

During the interview Harriet highlighted that today (6 April 2022) marks the end of the 'divorce blame game' where 'no fault divorce' legislation comes into effect, removing the requirement for parties to place blame on one another to start divorce proceedings. Harriet notes that "undoubtedly, it should have an impact on the relationship between divorcing spouses. I have had countless times where clients have come to me and have said  'we both want to get divorced, we're both happy to proceed' and they are really shocked to be told that you need to cite a list of reasons why the other party has behaved unreasonably. There should be a huge decrease in the tensions between parties, which should help things going forward and this will hopefully have a knock on impact in relation to the division of the finances and the arrangements for children".

When asked if the number of divorce applications would increase, Harriet replied "I do wonder if people have been holding off applying for a divorce and have been waiting for the reform. We have known that this has been in the pipeline for some time and it is a huge relief to a lot of people, who will no longer need to jump through the hoops that they previously had to do and I wouldn’t be surprised if we do see an increase". 

This interview took place on Wednesday 6 April 2022 at 12:44pm.