AN Alton lawyer has been in Westminster adding her voice to the call for “no-fault divorce”.

Felicity Chapman, an Alton resident and family lawyer for Charles Russell Speechlys LLP in Guildford, travelled to Parliament to meet with MPs as part of her membership of the family law industry body Resolution.

Ms Chapman was able to speak to Guildford MP Anne Milton on the day and she also met with East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds in his surgery.

The Alton woman was taking part in a major lobby of Parliament organised Resolution, which represents 6,500 family justice professionals who are committed to supporting couples to reach non-confrontational resolutions to family disputes.

In total, 150 family justice professionals took part in the event in Parliament which saw them hold meetings with MPs to discuss the need for divorce law to be changed to allow couples to break up without having to cite blame.

Ms Chapman said: “Current divorce law is sadly not fit for today’s modern society. Many couples break up because they simply fall out of love with each other but the law fails to recognise this as a legitimate reason for separation.

“Instead, couples are often forced to cite blame on their divorce petition and, from my personal experience as a family lawyer, this often leads to unnecessary argument and conflict. This is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. It undermines the work that I and other Resolution members do to help separating couples minimise conflict for themselves and their children.”

She added: “We need to move forward. No-fault divorce was originally provided for in the 1996 Family Law Act but was never brought into force. It was repealed in the Children and Families Act 2013. When parliamentary time is limited, it would take very little effort to recycle the work that has previously been done.”

Resolution’s call for no-fault divorce is supported by, among others, the most senior family judge in the country, Sir James Munby, the deputy president of the Supreme Court Baroness Hale of Richmond, the Family Mediation Task Force, and Relate.

In a recent survey of family lawyers carried out by Resolution, more than 90 per cent agree that divorce law needs to be modernised to allow for no-fault divorce. As well as no-fault divorce being a better option for separating couples, family lawyers also predict that such a change in legislation would see a greater use of mediation and lead to a reduction in the amount of court time spent dealing with children or financial issues relating to divorce.