The Court Administration Division in Jamaica has revealed earlier this year that between January and April over 1,220 divorce applications have been filed. This is an enormously high figure and could possibly mean a longer wait time for these applicants, irrespective of whether their divorce is contested or uncontested. There is a lot of anxiety that comes with the divorce process and most divorce clients are looking to finalize their divorce in the fastest possible time. In fact, in a lot of cases, both parties are desirous of getting a divorce but currently, there are no provisions in the Matrimonial Causes Act that allow parties to divorce proceedings to have a divorce by way of consent.

In a time where divorce numbers are going through the roof, Jamaica should consider allowing parties, in the same way they are entitled to enter into a contract for marriage, to exit a marriage by way of consent. This would definitely ease the burden on the court system.

Current System

Under our current system, the Matrimonial Causes Act divides divorce process into three major steps, a petition, an application for a decree nisi, and an application for decree absolute. The said act also mandates that the parties must be married for at least 2 years and separated for at least a year. Moreover, only a judge or Master from the Supreme Court has the authority to grant a decree nisi and a decree absolute, and therefore these documents have to wait to be seen by a judge or a master for vetting. This process can take a lot of time and judges and masters whose time could be used in the actual dispensation of justice is vetting divorce documents ¼ of which the parties are in total agreement. What is even worse is that these documents are mainly rejected for errors and not procedures or because it is being contested.

With these considerations, it is full-time Jamaica move towards considering divorce by way of consent. If implemented, however, we must be careful of implanting some safeguards to prevent abuse.

Safegaurds

Some of the safeguards can be

1. Making divorce by consent applicable only to couples who have been married for a short period of time
2. Requiring both parties to sign the consent order in the presence of a judge
3. Ensuring that adequate provisions for minor children are made
4. Ensuring that the parties agree on everything including custody, property division and maintenance

 While I understand that paper divorce and no-fault divorces has definitely improve the speed of divorce in Jamaica, there is still room for improvement and one such method is by implementing divorce by way of consent.