Commentary on provisions of the Act Divorce and judicial separation Section 2: Judicial separation: removal of factual grounds
This section amends section 17 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
	Subsection (2) substitutes subsection (1) of section 17 and provides that an application for a judicial separation order may be made by either or both of the parties to a marriage. New subsection (1A) specifies that an application for judicial separation must be accompanied by a statement that it is the intention of one or both parties to the marriage to be judicially separated from one another. New subsection (1B) provides that the court dealing with the application must make a judicial separation order.
	Subsection (3) omits the current subsection (2) of section 17, reflective of the removal of the facts in the substituted section.
	Subsection (4) updates the language in section 17 for clarity and for consistency with divorce, dissolution and separation in a civil partnership.