ABSTRACT
The Family Law Bill currently before Parliament contains new provisions concerning divorce which continue the trend toward private ordering in family law matters. The proposals would remove any consideration of fault in granting of divorce. A spouse will simply record their wish to divorce and, in principle, this would be granted a year later, provided that matters concerning property and arrangements for the children are settled. 1 There is a strong emphasis in the proposals on using mediation to settle disputes and the intention is for adjudication in court to become a rare final step when all else fails, again underlining the continuing shift toward private ordering and away from formal public procedures.
