The Law Commission Launches Consultation on Divorce Laws

The Law Commission has launched a consultation on the divorce laws of England and Wales. This comes as criticism mounts based on the notion that presently, this area of the law is too uncertain. Leading the review is
Professor Elizabeth Cooke who has said:

“When two people bring their marriage or civil partnership to an end it is vital that the law is able to help them resolve their financial arrangements as quickly and fairly as possible. The current law creates too much potential for uncertainty and inconsistency.”


The consultation paper is critical of the deficiencies present in the current legal framework:

“There are detailed statutory provisions about the orders that the court can make in these circumstances but the statute does not say what the court is to achieve by making these orders. The judge in the family court has been compared to a bus driver, who has been told how to drive the bus and told that he must drive it, but has not been told where to go, nor why he is to go there. Couples who do not go to court have to make their own financial arrangements by agreement. In doing so they need to know what their rights and obligations are, and the fact that the law is incomplete and uninformative does not help them.”


We expect results of the consultation to be published by autumn 2013.

If you need to speak to a divorce solicitor then contact Lund Bennett on 0845 548 1007 or email us at info@lundbennett.co.uk.