Commentary on provisions of the Act Schedule: Minor and consequential amendments Part 1: Amendments to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973
Paragraphs 2, 4, 5, 10(b), 16(a), 17 and 31 omit and/or amend sections of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 which are no longer necessary or appropriate because they relate to evidence of facts of irretrievable breakdown which will no longer exist by virtue of section 1.
	Paragraphs 3, 6 to 9, 10 (but for subparagraph (1)), 11, 13, 16(b), 18(a), 19 to 21 and 23 to 30 amend provisions of the Act for consistency with sections 1 and 2 (which substitute new section 1 and amend section 17 respectively), such as changes of references in the current Act from petitions to applications, and from granting of decrees nisi and absolute to making of conditional and final orders, as well as to reflect the fact that applications for divorce orders can now be made jointly.
	Paragraph 12 inserts a new section 12B that will ensure consistency of approach to nullity orders as currently found in the Act and with terminology introduced by sections 1 and 2 in relation to divorce orders and judicial separation orders. This provision retains the two-stage process that currently applies to nullity orders by virtue of sections 11, 15 and 1(5) of the Act, retains the current six-week time frame between what is now a decree nisi and decree absolute for nullity (which will now by virtue of this provision become conditional and final nullity orders), and replaces the current power of the High Court to amend the time frame with a power in the Lord Chancellor similar to that provided for in respect of nullity orders for civil partnerships in section 38(2) of the Civil Partnership Act 2004. A new provision is necessary because the current provision that creates these effects – section 15 of the Act – did so by cross-applying section 1(5) of the Act, but, given the formulation of new section 1, this simple cross-application was no longer practicable. Paragraph 14 substitutes a new section 15 in further consequence of these amendments and in consequence of the changes in section 1.
	Paragraphs 18(b), 20(5), 21(4), 22(3), 23(4), 24(4), 25(5), 27(6), 29(8) and 32 contain amendments that ensure that references to decrees, which will now be changed to orders, can still be read as including decrees if these were granted before the coming into force of the relevant provisions of this Act.