Outdated divorce law is causing needlessly painful and destructive breakups and exacerbating conflict between couples in the UK, according to the first major study of divorce law in 30 years.
Spouses feel they have no alternative but to give inaccurate accounts of how their marriage broke down, stretching the truth to meet legal requirements, researchers said.
The half a century-old legislation for England and Wales should be scrapped in favour of a no-fault, modern system, similar to those currently operating in many other countries, researchers said.
Researchers from the University of Exeter Law School in the UK interviewed 75 people going through the divorce process over the course of a year, and conducted focus groups and interviews with family lawyers.
They are examined the court files of 300 routine or undefended divorce cases and 100 files where the divorce was contested.
They also surveyed 2,000 adults in England and Wales and 1,000 divorced adults about their attitudes to the current law on divorce and civil partnership dissolution and views on law reform.
Findings showed that nearly half of all divorces are now based on 'unreasonable' behaviour, and having to make allegations to support this can create conflict between the divorcing couple, or make existing conflict much worse.
The law can make it harder for couples to try to sort out their finances and parenting arrangements, and does not protect children from conflict.
To get a divorce, the petitioner must fit their circumstances into one of five legal facts available: adultery, behaviour, desertion, two years separation with consent or five years separation.
In practice most couples are having cite unreasonable behaviour to gain a divorce, and stretch the truth so their reasons are lawful.
Except in the very rare defended cases, the court generally has to take the petitioner's allegations at face value, even where the respondent casts doubt upon or rejects the allegations.
"The study really highlights the need for law reform. We need a law that helps families look forward rather than back," said Liz Trinder from University of Exeter.
"The current law encourages spouses to blame each other for the breakdown, but then once they've done that, it expects them to work together as parents to put their children first," she said.
"In reality, we already have divorce by consent or 'on demand'. However, achieving that divorce without a long wait requires one party to throw mud at the other in what can be a needlessly painful and sometimes destructive legal ritual," she added.
"The constraints on the court mean that undefended petitions can only be taken at face value and there is very little risk of a divorce petition being rejected on legal grounds," she said.
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