Divorce

• Author: Fara Brown
• Profession: Attorney-at-law practising in Jamaica for over 30 years
• Pages: 65-117

3. Divorce

1. INTRODUCTION

2. THE LAW – A HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW

3. DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE – THE STATUTE AND MAIN

PRINCIPLES

4. CHILDREN AND DIVORCE

5. THE PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE OF DIVORCE

6. THE LEGAL EFFECTS OF DIVORCE

7. THE WAY FORWARD

INTRODUCTION

Marcia has had a hard life, but things are looking up. She made

a mistake while she was in high school and ended up pregnant

at 15, but when she was put out of school, her boyfriend, Dane,

looked after her and the baby, Marcus. That was until Dane

was shot by the police. His parents didn’t want anything to do

with Marcia and her mother was ashamed, so she was on her

own. She managed to get a job at the local supermarket and

harboured secret plans to go back to school and get some

subjects. James was the storeroom supervisor, he had an easy,

charming way about him, and all the female employees were

smitten. Marcia kept away from James, but that seemed to

draw him to her and soon they were a couple. They rented a

place together, and when it became clear that James accepted

Marcus as his own and was ready to settle down, they decided

to marry.

After the marriage, they were happy and prospered, they had

two children together. James was promoted to store manager,

Marcia became the cashier supervisor, and they bought a

Family Law in Jamaica

66

house and a small car. When the last child went to school,

Marcia decided that it was time to resume her studies; she

really wanted to be an accountant. James was not happy when

Marcia was away from home for two evenings per week, and

could not see why she wasn’t satised with what he provided,

but he kept quiet about it.

When James was transferred to another branch, he thought

that Marcia would curtail her studies and stay with the children,

because he now had to do so much travelling. Instead, she

switched to weekend classes and soon they found that they

were actually together for no more than a few hours per week

and both were very tired. Britney, a young voluptuous cashier

at James’s supermarket, was very sympathetic when James

poured out his problems on their second date. She listened

attentively and made it clear that Marcia was, in her opinion,

wrong to neglect such a ne man as James.

Six months later, matters came to a head. James and Marcia

had been arguing frequently about James staying in the

country for one weekend in every month. She suspected

indelity and James had denied it, but it was not until she

found incriminating material on his phone, that she became

convinced. She moved into her daughter’s bedroom that night.

For two months James tried to woo Marcia back to the marital

bed, but to no avail. Feeling hurt and rejected, he nally moved

out of the matrimonial home at the end of the third month and

went to live with Britney in the country.

Within four months of James’s departure, Marcia has obtained

maintenance orders in the Family Court, and is sitting in a

lawyer’s ofce. She is developing a deep and meaningful

relationship with a male classmate in her accountancy course.

They are in their nal year, and see the possibility of a glowing

future together. She wants a divorce.

One of the most common types of proceedings in family law for any

legal practitioner is divorce. Although marriage is viewed favourably

Divorce

67

as a societal institution, the number of divorces is steadily increasing,

and because divorce is a procedure that takes place in the high

court, a lawyer is needed. This is the mainstay of family practice,

along with the ancillary issues such as maintenance, custody, and

property matters that naturally arise when a marriage is brought to

an end.

The stigma of divorce in a small society, particularly when fault

grounds such as adultery or cruelty needed to be established, may

have been a deterrent in the past, especially when every minute

and embarrassing detail of a divorce proceeding became subject

to public scrutiny. Eventually, the public’s access to the details

of divorce cases was effectively curtailed by the introduction of

legislation,1 and the proceedings, while still in open court, took on a

more dignied tenor. The introduction of divorce based on the sole

ground of irretrievable breakdown undoubtedly has made divorce

easier to obtain. The procedural changes that make it no longer

necessary to attend court have added fuel to the relentless drive

for the speedy termination of marriages. In numeric terms, between

2012 and 2015, divorces obtained fell from 2,409 to 1,734.2 However,

consider that easier means of proving divorce does not guarantee

an easier divorce. The increasing technicality of the procedural rules

may be just one factor contributing to an overall decreasing trend

in the number of divorces granted.

THE LAW  A HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE

OVERVIEW

Divorce was introduced to Jamaica by the Divorce Law of 1879. It

was seen as an instrument that would encourage marriage because

prior to the Act, once the parties were in it, it was almost impossible

to get out of it. Those in informal unions found ways of marking

the end of the union in a recognized manner drawing from ‘their

1. The Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Act 1987.

2. See Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Demographic Statistics: Marriages and

Divorces.