Law Commission consultation proposes divorce reform
The Law Commission launched a consultation this week, Marital Property Agreements, into the controversial area of pre-nups and post-nups, suggesting a range of possible reforms such as allowing couples to ring-fence “special property” to protect it in the event of relationship breakdown.
This could be used to “protect the integrity of a family farm or business that might not survive if it was partitioned on divorce”.
The Commissioners identify the formalities that would need to be met before a pre-nup or post-nup could be upheld, including the need for independent legal advice. They ask whether full financial disclosure should be required, or whether that would be “intrusive, unnecessary or unnecessarily expensive”.
Eve-of-wedding agreements should be allowed, they say, even though the courts have shown reluctance to enforce these.
They acknowledge that pre-nups would “remain inappropriate” for couples with limited resources.
Geraldine Morris, family solicitor at LexisNexis, says: “The paper follows the Supreme Court’s decision in Radmacher v Granatino in October 2010 when a pre-nuptial agreement entered into by the parties was upheld.
“That case has been widely, and wrongly,
