No fault divorce comes to Jersey
2nd March 2026
Certain outdated hurdles are to be removed from the divorce process after law reforms were approved by politicians recently. A party wanting a divorce will be able to apply through a signed document and will no longer have to supply proof of reasons like adultery or unreasonable behaviour. In addition, couples will no longer have to be married or in a civil partnership for three years before they can divorce.
Advocate Corbett commented: "We are very pleased to see that the States have voted to introduce no-fault divorce. This is something that we have been pushing for, for many years. The Law Commission report on no fault divorce was prepared as long ago as 2014 and it has taken a long time for this long awaited family law reform to come to fruition in Jersey.
This reform is probably the most significant change in the law relating to divorce (or dissolution as it will be called going forward) since the original Matrimonial Causes (Jersey) Law 1949 was enacted.
The changes will mean that it will no longer be necessary to blame the other spouse for a breakdown in a marriage or for there to be a lengthy period of separation. People will be able to go their separate ways without acrimony. Couples will be able to make joint applications to dissolve their marriages (and civil partnerships) and people will no longer be forced to stay married for three years before bringing their marriage to an end.
It may be that there will be an increase in the number of dissolutions when the new law first comes into force, because some people will have been waiting to be able to bring their marriages to an end without having to use fault based grounds, that seems to have been what happened in England and Wales when the law changed there. That said, we have waited so long, people may well have given up waiting for the law to change and gone ahead under the current system.
It is probably unlikely to make a huge difference to the numbers of people wanting to end their marriages but what it will do is make the process simpler, quicker and less likely to inflame emotions. These are all things which will help to improve the lives of people in Jersey facing marriage breakdown."
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