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To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of legislation protecting victims of crimes of a highly serious nature when their spouse has committed the crime against them in relation to distributing marital assets.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of legislation protecting victims of crimes of a highly serious nature when their spouse has committed the crime against them in relation to distributing marital assets.
The Government is determined that the family courts should be places of safety and fairness. We recognise that serious offences, including domestic abuse, can have profound and long-lasting effects on victim-survivors’ financial security.
Assets owned by a married couple can be distributed by the family court following an application for divorce. The legislation that governs this is the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. This legislation sets out that, when making financial orders, the court must consider all the circumstances of the case, with the first consideration being the welfare of any child of the family. The legislation also sets out a list of factors the court should consider. One of these is the conduct of each of the parties, if the court considers it would be unfair to disregard it.
Case law has established that conduct must be “gross and obvious” and have a financial consequence, in order to be considered by the court. Whether a serious crime might meet the threshold to be taken into account by the court when it makes its financial orders will depend on the facts of the particular case. The family court may either make its own finding of fact about alleged conduct prior to any conviction or consider any relevant conviction as evidence of “conduct”.
The Government is considering the protections offered by this legislation to vulnerable spouses, including victims of crime. On 5 June it published its consultation, “A Fairer End to Relationships”. This proposes reforming the law of financial remedies on divorce and asks a range of questions about how misconduct should be taken into account in financial proceedings. The consultation closes on 14 August and is available here: A fairer end to relationships - GOV.UK
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the protocol is for distributing matrimonial assets following a crime of a highly serious nature committed by a spouse against the other a) pre and b) post-conviction.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the protocol is for distributing matrimonial assets following a crime of a highly serious nature committed by a spouse against the other a) pre and b) post-conviction.
The Government is determined that the family courts should be places of safety and fairness. We recognise that serious offences, including domestic abuse, can have profound and long-lasting effects on victim-survivors’ financial security.
Assets owned by a married couple can be distributed by the family court following an application for divorce. The legislation that governs this is the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. This legislation sets out that, when making financial orders, the court must consider all the circumstances of the case, with the first consideration being the welfare of any child of the family. The legislation also sets out a list of factors the court should consider. One of these is the conduct of each of the parties, if the court considers it would be unfair to disregard it.
Case law has established that conduct must be “gross and obvious” and have a financial consequence, in order to be considered by the court. Whether a serious crime might meet the threshold to be taken into account by the court when it makes its financial orders will depend on the facts of the particular case. The family court may either make its own finding of fact about alleged conduct prior to any conviction or consider any relevant conviction as evidence of “conduct”.
The Government is considering the protections offered by this legislation to vulnerable spouses, including victims of crime. On 5 June it published its consultation, “A Fairer End to Relationships”. This proposes reforming the law of financial remedies on divorce and asks a range of questions about how misconduct should be taken into account in financial proceedings. The consultation closes on 14 August and is available here: A fairer end to relationships - GOV.UK
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making injury-related pension enhancement and compensation elements protected within divorce settlements.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making injury-related pension enhancement and compensation elements protected within divorce settlements.
People may be able to access a workplace or private pension earlier than the scheme’s normal minimum pension age due to ill health, subject to the rules of the individual scheme. These rules vary, and it is for schemes to determine the conditions under which benefits can be paid before the normal pension age and/or on enhanced terms.
Where an ill health pension is paid from an arrangement that meets the legal definition of an occupational pension scheme, it is generally a shareable asset in the event of a divorce. This applies even where the pension has been brought into payment early for ill health reasons.
There is a specific exception in legislation for benefits that arise solely due to disablement, or death resulting from an accident suffered by a person that occurs during their pensionable service. These rights are not shareable on divorce.
The division of assets in divorce proceedings is a matter for family courts, which make decisions based on the law of the country in which the divorce takes place. In England and Wales, this falls under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, for which responsibility rests with the Ministry of Justice.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to prevent (a) AFPS 05 injury enhancements and (b) other injury related Armed Forces payments from being treated as divisible marital assets in (i) divorce and (ii) financial remedy proceedings.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will make it her policy to prevent (a) AFPS 05 injury enhancements and (b) other injury related Armed Forces payments from being treated as divisible marital assets in (i) divorce and (ii) financial remedy proceedings.
Injury-related payments are not currently excluded from the division of assets by the court. Instead, the court’s approach to whether such payments are treated as ‘matrimonial’ or ‘non-matrimonial’ will depend on the circumstances of the case.
As part of its 2024 scoping report on financial remedies, the Law Commission considered the court’s wide discretion in dividing assets in financial remedy proceedings, including the treatment of matrimonial and non-matrimonial property.
By Spring, the Government will be consulting on the challenges raised by the Law Commission in its report on financial remedies. The Government will carefully consider these issues as it prepares for consultation.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the treatment of injury related Armed Forces payments, including the AFPS 05 injury enhancement, in divorce and financial remedy proceedings in England and Wales.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his policy is on the treatment of injury related Armed Forces payments, including the AFPS 05 injury enhancement, in divorce and financial remedy proceedings in England and Wales.
The Armed Forces do not have separate divorce procedures applying solely to Service personnel. Any injury-related payments are valued and shared between the parties in accordance with the relevant scheme rules and general divorce law.
Lords question for short debate on, following the Law Commission's Financial Remedies Scoping Report published in December 2024, what consideration they are giving to the reform of the law relating to financial provision on divorce.
Lords question for short debate on, following the Law Commission's Financial Remedies Scoping Report published in December 2024, what consideration they are giving to the reform of the law relating to financial provision on divorce.
My Lords, for nearly 50 years I have been calling for reform of the way assets are distributed on divorce, a law now contained in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. In that time, divorce law itself has undergone profound changes and is now entirely no fault and administrative. In 1973,...
My Lords, for nearly 50 years I have been calling for reform of the way assets are distributed on divorce, a law now contained in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. In that time, divorce law itself has undergone profound changes and is now entirely no fault and administrative. In 1973,...
I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on securing this debate, and her excellent and compelling speech. She and the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, deserve great credit for their campaign and persistence in pressing for action on this matter.
The Law Commission report strongly supports the noble Baronesses’ arguments that the...
I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on securing this debate, and her excellent and compelling speech. She and the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, deserve great credit for their campaign and persistence in pressing for action on this matter.
The Law Commission report strongly supports the noble Baronesses’ arguments that the...
My Lords, I happily join the congratulations the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, gave to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on getting this timely debate, and the firm tone in which she addressed the Minister and the Government: for heaven’s sake, get on and do something and do not let things...
My Lords, I happily join the congratulations the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, gave to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on getting this timely debate, and the firm tone in which she addressed the Minister and the Government: for heaven’s sake, get on and do something and do not let things...
My Lords, I too am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, has put forward this Question. I support much of what the noble Lord, Lord Patten, said about the importance of children and the fact that they are, in many ways, not properly recognised when we look at financial...
My Lords, I too am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, has put forward this Question. I support much of what the noble Lord, Lord Patten, said about the importance of children and the fact that they are, in many ways, not properly recognised when we look at financial...
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for this debate. I feel humbled to follow the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. I have spoken on many occasions in your Lordships’ House about the urgent need for reform in relation to ancillary relief in divorce. Rather...
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for this debate. I feel humbled to follow the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss. I have spoken on many occasions in your Lordships’ House about the urgent need for reform in relation to ancillary relief in divorce. Rather...
Can I just finish quickly then? The president has announced that financial remedies are being taken out of the list, because there is no time to deal with them. The courts are being blocked by litigants in person and rich people and, in a situation where the law were clearer,...
Can I just finish quickly then? The president has announced that financial remedies are being taken out of the list, because there is no time to deal with them. The courts are being blocked by litigants in person and rich people and, in a situation where the law were clearer,...
My Lords, I join in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for raising this question for further debate. The Law Commission’s thorough and balanced scoping report asks if it is agreed that the law needs reform and which of the four suggested models for reform should be preferred by the...
My Lords, I join in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for raising this question for further debate. The Law Commission’s thorough and balanced scoping report asks if it is agreed that the law needs reform and which of the four suggested models for reform should be preferred by the...
I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on introducing this debate, and I congratulate her and the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, on their tenacity in bringing these issues before the House.
A lot has happened in society since the 1970s, when Parliament last intervened, and the heavy lifting in the...
I, too, congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on introducing this debate, and I congratulate her and the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, on their tenacity in bringing these issues before the House.
A lot has happened in society since the 1970s, when Parliament last intervened, and the heavy lifting in the...
My Lords, I join in thanking my noble friend Lady Deech for again introducing this important debate. Her timeless and tireless tenacity in pushing this thing forward is exemplary, and I commend her for all she has done in trying to reform this crucial part of family law.
The Law Commission’s...
My Lords, I join in thanking my noble friend Lady Deech for again introducing this important debate. Her timeless and tireless tenacity in pushing this thing forward is exemplary, and I commend her for all she has done in trying to reform this crucial part of family law.
The Law Commission’s...
My Lords, I start by declaring an interest in that, although I do no divorce work now, I once did, and I am still—rather by default, I fear—a member of the Family Law Bar Association. I join in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on introducing this debate in an...
My Lords, I start by declaring an interest in that, although I do no divorce work now, I once did, and I am still—rather by default, I fear—a member of the Family Law Bar Association. I join in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, on introducing this debate in an...
My Lords, like everyone else who has spoken today, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for moving this debate so that the House can scrutinise this important matter. The Law Commission has produced a meticulous scoping report on financial remedies. It has put forward four clear...
My Lords, like everyone else who has spoken today, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for moving this debate so that the House can scrutinise this important matter. The Law Commission has produced a meticulous scoping report on financial remedies. It has put forward four clear...
My Lords, I begin by joining all other noble Lords in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for securing this debate. The noble Baroness has, as other noble Lords have said, been unceasing in championing reform in this area, and I was very grateful to her for meeting me before...
My Lords, I begin by joining all other noble Lords in thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, for securing this debate. The noble Baroness has, as other noble Lords have said, been unceasing in championing reform in this area, and I was very grateful to her for meeting me before...
I hesitate to interrupt, but does the Minister not appreciate that marriage is a status but non-marriage is not a status, and that the time has come for the two to be looked at separately: divorce on the one hand and how you look after those in other relationships on...
I hesitate to interrupt, but does the Minister not appreciate that marriage is a status but non-marriage is not a status, and that the time has come for the two to be looked at separately: divorce on the one hand and how you look after those in other relationships on...