One of the UK's most respected family law judges, Sir Paul Coleridge, has called for the country's "outdated" divorce laws to be overhauled, as well as for more out-of-court alternative dispute resolutions to be implemented.
Confirming his retirement at the annual Family Law Conference in London, Sir Coleridge urged the private sector to “take the lead” in the development of innovative dispute resolutions relating to divorce battles, saying that it was not possible to wait for the courts to “get round to moving into a more streamlined and user-friendly environment”. Some of the suggestions for alternative resolutions included mediation, collaboration and arbitration, as well as financial dispute resolution.
“I am convinced we need to be following other jurisdictions by being more innovative and much more daring in this field,” he told the conference. “I am also convinced that, save in rare cases, the days of the gladiatorial wars of the titans are over…I am sure that even the more intractable and difficult cases can be solved in a much more sophisticated and modern way and with altogether less bloodshed, time and cost,” Sir Coleridge went on to say.
The judge called for an independent commission to take a “new and fresh” look at the UK’s current divorce laws contained within The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which have remained the same for 40 years. The current laws relating to divorce and financial provision were “designed in a wholly different era to deal with a wholly different society and way of life,” he said, and needed to reflect contemporary life, not the “distant past”.
Sir Coleridge confirmed that he would now be devoting his time to the charity The Marriage Foundation, which aims to advocate the importance of marriage and strengthen it for the benefit of adults, children and society in general.