Guidance has been given upon whether a final order should be made when divorcing parties have reconciled for more than a year following the granting of a conditional order (which used to be referred to as a Decree Nisi) and the application for a final order.
This ruling was in the case of HK v SS when the Judge Simmonds held that any period of reconciliation under two years should be seen as an attempt at reconciliation and it would not be a bar to the Court allowing a final order to be made.
This is helpful guidance as there had previously been a shortage of guidance as to how the Court should exercise its discretion when parties had reconciled for a significant period after divorce proceedings had begun and Conditional Order (previously Decree Nisi) granted. The relevant law dealing with this matter is now the Divorce Dissolution & Separation Act 2020 which came into force in 2022 and amended the Matrimonial Causes Act from 1973 over 50 years ago which previously governed decisions in this matter.
The decision is designed to show that parties should be given time to reflect and attempt reconciliation gradually without the pressure of an artificially imposed Court timetable imposed upon them and without fear of invalidating the divorce application. The previous period before the Court were called upon to exercise their discretion was one year’s reconciliation.
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