“Miserable and litigious” divorce law will remain
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Jamie Lennox, Editor, Today's Family Lawyer- 0
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It has been suggested that no-fault divorce reform “will fail to achieve its aims” unless the courts review and reform the way they deal with financial settlements, with Justice Minister Lord Wolfson suggesting that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will be examining the area of financial provision “within a matter of weeks”.
The claim, made by crossbench peer Baroness Deech, comes as the MoJ comes under continued pressure to look at the law in this area. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 – which comes into force 6th April – does not cover the financial provisions made between the parties. Baroness Deech said:
”The new no-fault divorce law is coming into force, but the most miserable and litigious part of it will remain: the law about splitting assets and paying maintenance. That law is so bad that the ministry is paying couples £500 each to mediate and avoid it.
The promise was made two years ago to review it. Where is that review? Gathering evidence is no excuse for not formulating principle and I can offer this piece of evidence right away – legal costs eat up chunks of the assets. Unless it is reformed, the no-fault divorce law will fail to achieve its aims.”
Conservative peer Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, who is a successful divorce lawyer herself, echoed this sentiment:
“Society has changed, as has the way we operate, and the rules are so left to the judge’s discretion that there is an industry – I am almost ashamed to practise in it – which fine-tunes, for money, applications for ancillary relief because no one can predict the outcome of such an application accurately.
We talk about the mythical mediator, but the mediator has to know what the rules are, because how can they mediate without the rules being clear and explicit?”
Despite the calls for a review of this area, caution was urged by former president of the High Court’s family division Baroness Butler-Sloss. She said ministers would need “a lot of sensible advice” before addressing what is a complex and sensitive area of law.
