Matrimonial Causes Act To Be Subject To A Major Review
The asset-splitting provisions within the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 are set to be reviewed by the Law Commission.
Criticism of the Act focuses on the unpredictable nature of the legislation through a lack of clear guidance. This, it’s said, lends itself to drawn-out litigation and thus impacts children negatively. The criticism of the law does not go without retort: namely, that the legislation gives judges the ability to assess cases individually and allocate assets accordingly.
Calling for reform, Baroness Deech, said “there can be no doubt that the state of the current law is unacceptable,” suggesting the law was “lagging 50 years behind nearly every other country in the western world, including Australia”. The crossbench peer also pointed out that, with legal aid removed from most cases, many spouses on lower incomes are forced to represent themselves in court.
Lord Bellamy plans to ask the Law Commission to examine whether the legislation needs updating:
“The Government is in close consultation with the Law Commission, which we consider the most appropriate body to carry out that review. These matters will be considered fully in a forthcoming review, hopefully by the Law Commission.
The Government thinks that the Law Commission is best placed to investigate all these matters, establish what the existing law and practice is and where the problems lie, and make comparative studies of various other jurisdictions, including Australia and elsewhere, as has already been mentioned.”
However, any change is likely to be two years away:
“Typically, Law Commission work takes place in two phases. There is an initial phase of the kind I have just outlined, where the problem is identified and comparative studies are made. That is typically followed by a consultation phase in which all stakeholders’ views are fully taken into account, which results in final recommendations and possibly draft legislation. That process will probably take at least two years.”
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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