Irvine under fire from all sides over no-fault divorce

Family lawyers this week restated their support for no-fault divorce but refused to back a senior body of policy advisers who last week criticised the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, for delaying its introduction.

The criticism of Lord Irvine's decision came in the Advisory Board on Family Law's annual report, where it expressed surprise and disappointment at his decision announced last summer.

The board said the delay in implementation left a 'strong sense of unfinished business and uncertainty over the future'.Rosemary Carter, chairman of the Solicitors Family Law Association, said most practitioners supported the delay in implementation of Part II of the Family Law Act: 'Given the delay, the Lord Chancellor should stand back, declare his support for no-fault divorce, but look at amending legislation to bring it in in a proper way.'Hilary Siddle, chair of the Law Society's family law committee, said that although there were concerns about delays in implementation creating uncertainty, it was more important to get divorce law right.However, practitioners supported the board's findings that research into divorce information meetings showed it was arriving too late and was not tailored to clients' needs.

Increased use of mediation would be better encouraged by protocols, practice guidelines and advertising, rather than from compulsory meetings, the report found.

Sue Allen