This document provides general guidance regarding Civil partnership Dissolution procedure. Your family lawyer will be able to provide specific advice based on your circumstances.

No fault dissolution

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA 2020) has been described as a landmark reform of the law relating to divorce and dissolution. It aims to make the dissolution process less acrimonious by introducing what is commonly known as a ‘no fault’ procedure. This legislation, for the first time, completely removes the need to assign blame when commencing dissolution proceedings. The new dissolution procedure is in force for applications that are issued from 6 April 2022.

Historically, in order to obtain a dissolution of a civil partnership in England and Wales it was necessary for the party applying for a dissolution to establish that the civil partnership had broken down irretrievably and to do that they had to prove one of the ‘four facts’. Two facts were based on fault, ie Unreasonable behaviour and Desertion, and two facts were based on a period of separation (two years’