Draft Marriage and Civil Partnership (Dissolution and Separation) Law

WQ.38/2026

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS BY DEPUTY H.L. JEUNE OF ST. JOHN, ST. LAWRENCE AND TRINITY QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 9th FEBRUARY 2026

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 16th FEBRUARY 2026

Question

"In relation to the Draft Marriage and Civil Partnership (Dissolution and Separation) (Jersey) Law 202-, will the Minister advise –

1. what consideration and analysis there were of the potential for coercive and controlling behaviour to manifest during divorce and dissolution proceedings, particularly in relation to –
   1. financial negotiations; and
   2. arrangements for children;
2. which stakeholders, professional bodies and victim-survivor groups were consulted on this issue, and what key concerns or recommendations, if any, were raised;
3. what provisions, safeguards, or duties within the draft Law are intended to address this issue;
4. if such behaviour is not directly addressed in the draft Law, whether she considers existing legislation, guidance, or court procedures to be sufficient and, if so, on what evidence this assessment is based; and
5. if there are currently no explicit protections, whether the Minister intends to introduce amendments, statutory guidance or secondary legislation to address the risk?"

Answer

1. The Draft Marriage and Civil Partnership (Dissolution and Separation) (Jersey) Law 202- (the draft Law), if approved, will give effect to the States Assembly's 2015 in principle decision in P.77/2015 Same-Sex Marriage, Divorce and Dissolution to introduce "no fault" divorce (and dissolution of civil partnerships) into Jersey law. The draft Law is intended to assist all couples who apply for the dissolution of their marriage or civil partnership, including those in abusive relationships and who may be subject to coercive or controlling behaviour. This long-awaited reform removes the requirement for those couples who wish to legally end their relationship to assign blame, with the aim of reducing potential conflict, including coercive and controlling behaviour, and to simplify the process.

One of the key ways in which a party may seek to exercise coercive control is by defending a divorce or dissolution of a civil partnership to put financial pressure on the financially weaker and more vulnerable party, preventing them from pursuing a financial claim to final order; the draft Law prevents this from occurring. Removing the ability to contest provides important protection for anyone experiencing abuse.

The draft Law builds on existing principles for negotiating and agreeing financial arrangements, acting as enabling legislation to provide the Family Court with the tools required to deal with such matters. These principles stem from England and Wales case law based on Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 which the Jersey court applies when determining financial arrangements. They include using equal division of marital assets as a starting point, (but not as a presumption) assessing the needs of each party, considering their respective contribution to the marriage or civil partnership, sharing marital/civil partnership assets, recognising the loss of benefits and importantly taking account of serious conduct if it would be unfair to disregard it. To reinforce this established approach, the relevant provisions from Section 25 of the England and Wales Act have been incorporated into Article 31 of the draft Law. Whilst recognising the importance of legislation that allows the Court to manage the processes for dealing with financial and child-related matters, the draft Law also introduces several new provisions aimed at ensuring fairness and offering further support to the more vulnerable party where needed. These include:

1. Article 34 Interim occupation orders:
2. Article 36 Orders for payment in respect of legal services: and
3. Article 40 Transactions intended to prevent or reduce payment under financial order or sale of property order.

The new provisions of the draft Law go further than ever before to ensure that where a financially controlling party has been able to manipulate during the marriage or civil partnership, the court can offer a remedy during proceedings, even for events which have happened before proceedings are issued.

Controlling behaviour in arrangements for children are not dealt with under this law but under existing practice under the Children (Jersey) Law 2002. Practical and financial arrangements for children are principally dealt with under that law because the court's powers to provide for the welfare of the child are greater than under the current law being considered; it is also imperative that the welfare of the child is the paramount concern under the Children Law.

2. In early 2019 a public consultation was undertaken to establish views on divorce with the outcomes produced and summarised in the Divorce Reform, Future of Civil Partnerships & Age of Marriage Consultation Report of April 2019. This consultation concentrated on proposed amendments for the introduction of no-fault divorce.

Reform of Jersey's divorce process has the support of the Jersey Law Commission, which published a report on Divorce reform in 2014.

This draft Law addresses the issue of no-fault dissolution of any marriage or civil partnership and not just those that are affected by domestic abuse. The draft Law provides a framework for the Court to deal with financial matters and childcare arrangements on a case-by-case basis.

3. As noted in the response to a) above, the introduction of no-fault dissolution intends to reduce conflict arising from the dissolution process. Apart from removing the need to prove fault, the draft Law includes a number of new provisions to help the Court deal with the needs of all couples who go through the dissolution process, these include the following Articles:
   1. Article 16 Power of court to order alternative dispute resolution;
   2. Article 31 Ascertainment of assets and liabilities of parties;
   3. Article 34 Interim occupation orders,
   4. Article 36 Orders for payment in respect of legal services and
   5. Article 40 Transactions intended to prevent or reduce payment under financial order or sale of property order.
4. Further work is needed to determine whether existing legislation is sufficient. As part of the Government's commitment to implement the recommendations of the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Taskforce, an independent review of the Family Court's system in relation to the treatment of cases that involve domestic abuse has been commissioned. An independent reviewer has been appointed, and the terms of reference for this review are currently being finalised with the relevant stakeholders. It is intended that this important piece of work will include, where appropriate, consideration of the suitability of current legislation, guidance and court procedures.

5. The independent review of the Family Court system will consider whether the introduction of new amendments, statutory guidance and secondary legislation is necessary. A report detailing the key findings and recommendations of the independent review will be published once the work is concluded. It is intended that the published review will be available for the next Government and it will be a matter for that Government to respond to the recommendations.

The draft Law provides the court with the necessary powers to address financial arrangements and matters relating to children arising from the dissolution of a marriage or civil partnership. It also affords the court the flexibility to respond to the specific circumstances of each case, supported by updated court procedures set out in new Rules, which will be determined by the Court. During the drafting process, consideration, where appropriate will be given to the results of the independent review.