Synopsis

‘Good Divorce Week’ 2025, a Resolution-initiative, takes centre stage from Monday 10 November – Friday 14 November 2025.

It is a time to step back from the immediate upheaval of separation, and all that comes with it, and instead, to reflect on the longer-term objectives. The central theme this year is to embrace The Resolution Code of Practice which promotes practices, designed to make the process of separation more constructive, respectful and outcome focussed.

The guiding principles for members of Resolution are to ensure that their involvement with families minimises conflict between them and supports healthier outcomes for those separating and any children involved. At JMW, whilst Good Divorce Week highlights those principles, our family solicitors are committed to ensuring that the same principles and resolution-focussed approach permeate throughout the year, and in all cases, where appropriate.

Synergy

Good Divorce Week is predicated on raising awareness about how separation need not be bitter, wasteful or damaging. 

The overriding principles of the Resolution Code of Practice is perfectly aligned with this: if the process of separation – and those professionals helping with that process - are guided by positive values, then families can emerge less scarred, financially secure and with stronger foundations to co-parent.

In achieving this outcome, there is at present a growing legal emphasis on Non‐Court Dispute Resolution (NCDR), encompassing voluntary processes such as collaborative law, mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluations and private FDRs.

The changes to the Family Procedure Rules 2023 (effective April 2024) reflect these routes to finality: there is an expectation that litigating parties consider NCDR at an early stage – proceedings are often now adjourned by family court Judges to allow NCDR to take place, making the principles of the Resolution Code of Practice even more prevalent. There has been a sea-change and cultural shift towards managing separation, rather than processing it, which can be seen vividly and the consequences of collaborative, sensible and outcome-focussed separation cannot be undermined.

The exploration of NCDR has been brought into sharp focus very recently by the family court itself: the court system is often overwhelmed and under resourced with a fixed allocation for family cases. It is often stretched under the pressure of case managing several hundred of families. Consequently, the message circulated by Sir Andrew McFarlane, President of the Family Division, on 15 September 2025, set out, explicitly, that a number of sitting days in courts between October 2025 – March 2026 will likely need to be cancelled at the last minute, re-scheduled to a different day, adjourned or re-listed, leading to ‘unwelcome difficulties’.

A total reliance, professionally and personally, on the court system, without any exploration of NCDR, has the potential therefore to lead to further delay, wasted costs and frustrated clients, going through the peaks and troughs of ordinary litigation. This is entirely avoidable, and it is within the skill set and expertise of legal professionals to help unburden assist clients in this regard.

Summary

Good Divorce Week 2025 serves as a healthy reminder to us all (legal practitioners and those going through separation) that the Code of Practice provides a helpful framework to manage better separations. Research shows that children are much less impacted by a separation process that is less adversarial resulting in outcomes which are child-focussed. A positive approach, a well-informed client and a dedicated professional, combined with the growing shift away from litigation towards NCDR, should allow all those involved to create a clear message: separation need not be destructive and should preserve personal dignity, allowing people to break up, and not down.