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Legislation
The key piece of domestic English and Welsh legislation addressing this topic is the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. As with all legislation, we recommend that you avoid legislation.gov.uk, and instead refer to a subscription database such a Lexis or Westlaw. This will ensure that you are working with an up-to-date version.
Television and radio documentaries
You may have access to a resource called Box of Broadcasts via your college or university. This is provided by the British Universities and Colleges Film and Video Council and gives on demand access to many television and radio programmes going back years, for educational purposes. Some programmes also include transcripts. There are many documentaries available. These include:
Mr and Mrs: Call the Mediator (episode 1, BBC2, 2016)
Money Box Live: Divorce, Separation and Personal Finance (BBC Radio 4, 5 April 2017)
Tonight: Divorce: For Richer, For Poorer? (ITV, 2010)
Money: Couples (BBC2, 2011)
Millionaires’ Ex-Wives Club (BBC2, 2018)
Family Procedure Rules
Part 9 and its associated Practice Direction set out the procedural requirements for a financial remedy claim.
Law Commission, Matrimonial Property, Needs and Agreements (2009-2014)
Large project by the Law Commission which looked initially at matrimonial property agreements (i.e., nuptial agreements) and was then widened to consider financial needs and (non-) matrimonial property in financial remedy cases. Led to the Family Justice Council’s Guidance on ‘Financial Needs’ on Divorce, but other recommendations have not (yet) been implemented.
Family Justice Council, Guidance on ‘Financial Needs’ on Divorce (Ministry of Justice, 2016)
Guidelines for judges on what factors to take into account when assessing a person’s needs for financial remedy purposes. Useful for the determination of spousal maintenance.
Family Justice Council, Sorting out Finances on Divorce (Ministry of Justice, 2016)
Good guide aimed at the public and self-represented litigants, with a really clear approach to explaining the law. A very useful source for confused students too.
Series of briefing papers following analysis of court files on how financial remedy cases are resolved, barriers to resolution, and the type of orders made.
A fundamentally important case which introduced equality into financial remedy law and changed all subsequent financial remedy cases. Its importance cannot be overstated.
Miller v Miller and McFarlane v McFarlane [2006] UKHL 24
Two cases joined on appeal, one involving a short marriage and one a long marriage. The judges identify three rationales for property division on divorce: needs, compensation, and sharing. The most important case since White.
Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42
The key case on nuptial agreements, involving a German heiress and a French banker, who lived in England. Gives us the present approach for determining whether and to what extent a nuptial agreement should be followed by a court.
Discussion of the key cases on matrimonial and non-matrimonial assets and whether the different approaches can be reconciled successfully.
Fawcett Society, Women’s Financial Assets and Debts (2007)
Report analysing women’s and men’s levels of savings and investments, pensions saving, and debt and how divorce and becoming a parent affect these. Identifies significant differences in outcomes between men and women.
Research into the effects of divorce on the financial position of the parties over both the short and long term, using data from the British Household Panel Survey.
Supreme Court Justices’ Speeches
Lord Wilson, ‘Changes over the Centuries in the Financial Consequences of Divorce’ (2017).