Divorce applications rise by a third after legislation changes

The Court Service’s annual report for 2020 revealed that there were 5,266 divorce applications made to the court last year, compared to 4.073 in 2019 and 3,888 in 2018.

The Circuit Court dealt with 5,220 of those applications while the High Court doubled its caseload, hearing 46.

The report shows that the majority of cases were brought by women: 84 per cent of High Court cases and 75 per cent of Circuit Court applications.

In total, 3,164 divorce orders were made.

Commenting on family law disputes generally, the Courts Service identified the lockdown and pandemic as putting increased pressure and tension on families and couples. However, the increase in divorce applications has mainly been attributed to law reform in 2019 halving the amount of time for separation.

The Family Law Act 2019 reduced the time a couple is required to be separated from four of the previous five years to two years.

Inge Clissmann, a senior counsel specialising in family law, said the law reform meant that people who had previously been waiting to file a divorce application suddenly became eligible.

She told The Irish Times: “We haven’t had two years of a pandemic, so people won’t have been living apart for two years because of the pandemic. It may ultimately lead to divorces but not yet. There is a significant backlog of cases in the family lists also.”

Ms Clissmann also noted that people’s expectations in life are “higher than they used to be”, and that divorce does not have the same social stigma it once did.

“People are more willing nowadays to go for a divorce. Years ago people in their 50s and 60s wouldn’t get divorced for religious or family reasons. Now, that reluctance has passed.”