Following its 2012 consultation on marital property agreements (“pre nups”) The Law Commission has launched a supplementary consultation paper examining the different aspects of law relating to the financial consequences of divorce and of the dissolution of a civil partnership.

The consultation will consider the law relating to what extent one spouse should be required to meet the other’s financial needs, and what exactly is meant by needs; and what happens to property that one of the partners owned before the relationship or acquired during the course of it.

The recent reforms to legal aid will inevitably mean that there will be more litigants in person and therefore the Law Commission is looking at ways to simplify the process of dividing a couples assets and income.

The consultation paper also asks  “whether financial support should continue to be determined by the court, at the judge’s discretion, or whether it should be calculated by reference to a formula,