Sparks v. Sparks

In 1971, on the recommendation of the Law Revision Commission,1 the divorce laws were amended to provide for the "substitution of one non-fault ground for divorce for the existing fault grounds.”2

The majority turns the clock back over twenty years in holding that fault remains "one of the relevant factors”3 for determining the division of property. Validating the introduction of evidence concerning marital fault reintroduces the evil sought to be remedied by the enactment of no-fault divorce. The construction placed by the majority on the 1971 statute4 is opposed by the overwhelming weight of…