NO-FAULT DIVORCE AND LEGAL REFORM IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM THE AUSTRALIAN FAMILY LAW MODEL

Abstract

This article examines the principle of no-fault divorce under Australia’s Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and evaluates its potential relevance for reforming Nigeria’s Matrimonial Causes Act 1970. Employing a doctrinal and comparative legal methodology, the study analyses statutes, judicial decisions, parliamentary materials, and academic literature from both jurisdictions. The article argues that although Nigeria formally recognises irretrievable breakdown as the sole ground for divorce, this is not a free-standing ground; rather, irretrievable breakdown is the conclusion to be drawn from proof of one or more statutory facts under section 15(2), most of which remain fault-based. Consequently, the Matrimonial Causes Act retains a predominantly fault-based structure that promotes adversarial litigation, procedural complexity, emotional hostility, and evidential manipulation. In contrast, Australia’s no-fault divorce framework simplifies matrimonial dissolution by relying primarily on separation as objective evidence of marital breakdown, while separating divorce from ancillary disputes relating to children and property. Drawing on legal transplant theory, constitutional pluralism, feminist family law scholarship, and comparative jurisprudence, the article proposes reforms including redefining irretrievable breakdown through separation alone, shortening statutory separation periods, limiting the role of fault in ancillary proceedings, strengthening alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and recognising separation under one roof. The article concludes that carefully calibrated reform would modernise Nigerian matrimonial law, reduce acrimony and perjury in divorce proceedings, improve access to justice, and align statutory family law with contemporary social realities while respecting Nigeria’s constitutional diversity and socio-religious context.