Second House of Lords Debate Aims to Make Divorce Settlements Simpler

The Divorce (Financial Provision) Bill is due back in the House of Lords on Friday (27 June 2014) for its second reading and specialist family and divorce solicitors say there is ‘still a long way to go’ before it solves the problems facing separating couples.

The debate is to determine how the family courts should resolve financial settlements between divorcing parties and civil partners. The Divorce (Financial Provision) Bill introduced earlier this year by Baroness Deech seeks to make financial settlements on divorce “simpler, more certain and democratic”.

Fiona Turner, a Partner in the family law team at Irwin Mitchell which has offices across the country, said:

The new proposals are intended to counter the removal of legal aid funding by providing a simpler more formulaic process with limits on maintenance payments, more certainty in potential outcomes in proceedings and laws to make pre-nups legally binding.

The Divorce Bill also builds on the Law Commission’s report earlier this year in seeking to make pre-nups legally binding.

Irwin Mitchell has seen a significant increase in instructions in the past year for pre-nuptial agreements and Fiona said:

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Family and Divorce Law.