Are Yorkshire pudding toppings a reason for divorce? Fortunately not anymore: no fault divorce – over 2 years on

It has now been over two years since the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into force on 6 April 2022. This brought with it the introduction of “no fault divorce” and not a day too soon for most, if not all, divorce lawyers. It now seems a distant memory having to advise clients that if they wished to divorce they would need either to blame their spouse for committing adultery or behaving unreasonably. The alternative being to wait until 2 years after separation if the other party consented to the divorce, or five years if they did not.

Would eating your Yorkshire pudding for dessert, with sweet sauce or, the ultimate food faux pas in this author's opinion, with cream and jam(?!), have counted as unreasonable behaviour to demonstrate the irretrievable breakdown of a marriage? Perhaps not. But that's not to say someone would not have found such behaviour unreasonable, as clearly one wife did as she took to Reddit to comment, although perhaps with a wry sense of humour: “Just spent three hours making Sunday dinner and for desert [sic] my husband has put jam on a Yorkshire pudding! Divorce?”

The no fault divorce reform has taken further unnecessary contention out of applying for divorce. Both parties may now also apply jointly and the number of joint applications is on the rise.

The no fault divorce process is now as follows:

1. One or both parties to the marriage file for divorce online, confirming that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. No reason as to why needs to be given.
2. If the application is made jointly, then both parties will be served with the issued divorce application and receive an acknowledgement of service to complete and return. If a sole application is made, the respondent party will be served with the issued divorce application and an acknowledgement of service to complete and return. 
3. Once the divorce application has been issued by the court, there is a 20 week “cooling off” period. After this 20 week period, the parties (if a joint application) or the sole applicant (if a sole application), can apply for the first order of divorce, known as the Conditional Order.
4. The court will consider the application for a Conditional Order and confirm to the parties that they are entitled to a Conditional Order and provide the date and time and court where the Conditional Order will be pronounced. The parties need not attend. 
5. 6 weeks and 1 day after the Conditional Order has been pronounced the joint applicants, or the sole applicant, can apply for the Final Order of divorce. This is the order that legally ends the marriage. 

The process is much simpler than determining if how one eats one’s Yorkshire pudding could count as unreasonable behaviour. Indeed it appears that the correct way to eat a Yorkshire pudding is a divisive and controversial issue. Although, it is of course with gravy as part of a Sunday roast, maybe some mustard on the side, and not as dessert!