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I've been a family law solicitor for over twenty years. The present law is not satisfactory. All that is required is an adjustment so that separation "by consent" can be used immediately in exactly the same way adultery and unreasonable behaviour can be. If one party doesn't consent to the divorce immediately, the time for bringing proceedings (in the absence of unreasonable behaviour or adultery) should be reduced to one year from five. Why should you have to stay married to someone if you have been separated from them for more than a year and you don't want to be? We don't need desertion at all either.

Divorces often become bitter because people are by default basing them on unreasonable behaviour out of necessity to get on with the divorce (in order to resolve finances more often than not).

Therefore, alter the timing of separation rules (by consent and without consent) and you will have fewer bitter divorces from the outset, which in turn produces better outcomes for children and lower divorce costs.