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Anyone that has had sight of the forms that are used to apply for a divorce and is also familiar with the documents that were used before the introduction of new documents last year would be hard pressed to note any significant difference between the two with one possible exception: these forms could now be used to apply for dissolution as well as divorce.

In many respects, the difference between a divorce and dissolution are academic. They are both, ultimately, terms used to describe the legal process of ending a covenant between two people, the only difference is that one term is used when the couple are married and the other is used when they are civil partners.

The process of obtaining either a divorce or dissolution is – following these new procedures having been introduced – more or less identical too. Civil partners will be unable to apply for their partnership to be dissolved until it has existed for at least a year, just as a married couple will need to have been married for a year before they can apply for a divorce. They will also need to prove that their union has irretrievably broken down which, again, is exactly what a married couple would be required to do. It has also been established that financial settlements regarding dissolutions should be determined in exactly the same way as they would during divorce proceedings. So how, exactly, is dissolution different to divorce?  The answer lies within the terminology itself.

Just as a union between two individuals of the same sex cannot be called a marriage because of a need to placate certain individual’s archaic beliefs, the end of a civil partnership cannot be referred to as a divorce. Just as calling civil partnerships marriages would offend these people, referring to dissolution as divorce would provoke ire also.

So, a divorce and a dissolution differ in name only and this difference exists solely because there are still people that believe that a couple of the same sex cannot be treated in the same way as a couple comprised of two individuals of opposing sexes – what a shame.