Separated.ie present to Government to support the bill to cut divorce wait time from four years to two
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If the Bill passes, a constitutional referendum would then be necessary to reduce the waiting time for a divorce.
A 1996 amendment which deleted the long-standing constitutional ban on divorce replaced it with detailed restrictions on when divorce could be available to estranged couples.
The Constitution
These restrictions were expressed in statute but also in the Constitution. One of them was that couples must have lived apart for four years before they can be granted a divorce.
Ms Madigan, who previously worked as a solicitor specialising in family law before being elected in Dublin-Rathdown at the last general election, says she has seen “first-hand the detrimental effect this four-year rule has had on separating couples”.
The long lead-in period to divorce inflates legal costs and increases the stress of the process on parents and children, she says.
“There are too many separated couples who cannot extricate themselves from each other within a reasonable time-period. This Bill is simple common sense,” says Ms Madigan.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/fg-td-brings-bill-to-cut-divorce-wait-time-from-four-years-to-two-1.2704512
