Law surrounding financial provision following relationship breakdown to be reviewed
The Law Commission is to review the law on financial provision where a marriage or civil partnership breaks down.
It will look at two areas of law that cause particular difficulties. These are: the extent to which one party should be required to meet the other’s needs after the relationship ends; and the way in which non-matrimonial property should be treated on divorce or dissolution. Non-matrimonial property includes property that has been inherited, received as a gift or acquired before the marriage or civil partnership.
The Commission’s ongoing project on marital property agreements will be extended to cover these two areas, and it will publish a supplementary consultation paper later this year. A final report is due next year.
Professor Elizabeth Cooke, the Law Commissioner in charge of family law, says: “The current law creates too much potential for uncertainty and for inconsistent outcomes. This work will complement our current project on marital property agreements, in which we are considering whether a couple should be able to make a legally binding agreement before or during their marriage or civil partnership about the financial arrangements they will make if the relationship fails.”
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