Divorce

Lord Grantchester Excerpts

Monday 18th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grantchester]

My Lords, I speak with a large amount of trepidation since I have very little knowledge and no expertise on the subject. I reflect that for many people caught up in the experience, divorce is something that they did not want or expect and that they are unwilling participants in the process. I should like to pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, whose words on the subject resonate most with me. The disagreements on the merits of differing contentions reflect the uncertainty surrounding financial dispute resolution—FDR—as legal teams, in seeking to provide advice, are compromised between interpretations of recent cases. It is an unsatisfactory state of affairs. I should like to support and give oxygen to the noble Baroness’s voice and to thank her for her perseverance in raising this matter, which affects, sadly, far too many of us.

I learn in today’s Telegraph that last year there was a 16 per cent increase in divorce. I also support the noble Baroness’s call for legislation. Surely it is for Parliament to pass legislation and to set the framework for the judiciary to interpret. I am sure that there are judges who are uncomfortable with the present position. For a person not to know to any degree where a case will settle or to be subject to the lottery of what view the judge attached to the case will take places unnecessary strain and leads to participants taking extreme positions in an endeavour to tilt the landscape. It will be difficult to define fairness in the present contentious climate. Fairness is an overclaimed parameter today. It is one of those motherhood and apple pie attributes against which no one can contend. I am reminded of the Bob Dylan song of my youth, “With God on Our Side”.

That London is described as the divorce capital underlines the fact that the UK is out of step. It draws one side to precipitous action rather than reconciliation and inevitably therefore to higher cost. I am left to reflect that divorce is seen by most high-value cases as a one-way bet for wives and that invariably the husband better agree to everything as he is only going to pay anyway.

I shall speak to only one feature: prenuptial agreements. This, more than any other feature, would be instrumental in dissipating the heat in FDR, would immensely simplify the process and largely negate the need to value assets. Thus it would reduce costs. It should not be necessary to have to await the slow progress of disputed cases setting case law to correct this anomaly. I will take my own advice and refrain from voicing further thoughts on what is indisputably the most dramatic aspect of life for far too many today.