A 'revolution' in the divorce laws coming into force this week has been welcomed by a family lawyer based in Gloucester.

In the biggest shake-up of England's divorce laws for nearly 50 years, from Wednesday, couples will no longer have to blame each other to break up a marriage.

Just one member of a marriage will be able to file for divorce without giving a reason.

Chris Price, a partner at Tayntons Solicitors and family lawyer, believes the change is welcome and long overdue.

He told Punchline: "After a much-promised change which the government delayed because of Covid whilst it focussed on other things, as of April 6 we've got the non-blame ground for divorce coming in.

"Effectively what that means is that people who are getting divorced from that date no longer have to accuse the other of adultery or unreasonable behaviour or wait for periods of separation, they can simply go down the non-blame ground. It's encouraged to try to make the whole divorce process far more amicable.

"It's going to be a big sea change really in the way the whole divorce process works. What we're hoping to see is it's going to take out that sting that often happens right at the start of the divorce process where one party blames the other. It's very much needed I think.

"You can even jointly file a divorce which is going to be revolutionary. It used to be one party was always taking the lead and could therefore be perceived as the trigger."

Chris hoped that as well as being more amicable, the new law would allow divorcing couples to focus on the resolution of finances and on any children.

He added: "I think we have had quite an old-fashioned system of divorce in England and Wales for some time. Referring to phrases such as 'adultery' in 2022 sounds very old-fashioned as far as I'm concerned.

"So it's going to be a big change and one which we hope is going to be of benefit to clients."

Despite the change in law, Chris said it wouldn't necessarily speed up the divorce process as there was still a fixed period in terms of how long divorces would take and there was still a cooling off period.

"I think what it's going to do is hopefully is make the process far easier for the parties so they're not going to feel they are living through tunnel with no light at the end of it whilst the divorce process is going on. It's going to encourage farm more amicable discussions and a mutual approach.

"The more you can do to remove the acrimony the better really. Sadly no matter how we try as parents and as adults and to keep children away from things, they are very good at picking up on things.

"Certainly it's not going to remove the stress entirely. It's still not going to be a nice thing to have to do, but to do on the basis of one party not being accused I think is going to be taking a totally different approach and accept that in 2022 marriages sadly break down and there's no reason to make it more difficult that that really."