Proposal to Reduce Waiting Times for Divorce Accepted by Government September 2017

September 14th, 2017

The Government has accepted a private Members Bill from Josepha Madigan TD to reduce the requirement from four years before parties can obtain a Divorce to two years.

The new two year limit is designed to bring Ireland in line with international standards.

Since Divorce was brought in in 1996 more than 50,000 Orders have been granted by the Courts but Ireland continues to have the lowest rate of divorce in the European Union.

The new two year rule, if passed by Constitutional Referendum, could, in many cases, remove the two step process which ensures that parties have to obtain a Judicial Separation and at later stage obtain a divorce.

It is worth remembering that when divorce was brought through in 1996 by a narrow margin of only .5% it was important at the time to ensure that the concept of “quickie divorces” was not about to take hold in Ireland.

In the intervening 20 years, as a Society, Ireland has shown itself to continue to have a responsible approach to a marriage separation and it is only in circumstances where relations have irretrievably broken down that the parties will apply for either a Court Separation or Divorce.

If you require advice on any Family Law matter please do not hesitate to contact one of our members details of whom can be obtained from this website.