Couples would be required by law to "reflect" on their marriage and explore the possibility of reconciliation, under plans put forward by Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice.

In a key report being studied by David Cameron, the group also proposes more rights for people to keep the assets they owned before they were married if they later got divorced.

New rights for cohabiting couples, proposed by the equality minister Harriet Harman would be scrapped.

Divorce in England and Wales is currently granted on the basis of the irretrievable breakdown of marriage, on one of five so-called “grounds” – adultery; unreasonable behaviour; desertion; two years’ separation with consent; or five years’ separation without consent.

The new proposals are for a three-month delay before divorce proceedings could begin.

The proposals form part of a major new report called Every Family Matters which aims to bolster family life with new legal measures. ...

A system of state-sponsored relationship counselling is proposed which is based on a scheme in Australia where struggling couples attend Family Relationship Centres.

The proposed British version would be called "family relationship hubs" and couples would be required to attend them by law if they wanted to divorce.

In addition, all couples preparing to marry would be "strongly encouraged" to attend the hubs, although the report stops short of making this compulsory.

It also calls for an overhaul of the law on how assets are divided when couples divorce to better reflect "marital sacrifices".

Labels: cohabitation, divorce, divorce reform, United Kingdom

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