Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will undertake a review of the legal management of divorce proceedings; and if he will make it his policy to reform interim financial arrangements to ensure neither party is financially disadvantaged or placed in financial difficulty prior to the final settlement.

The Government has no plans to undertake a further review of divorce law in respect of the way in which marriages are dissolved. This is because significant reforms were introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (“DDSA”) 2020, which came into force on 6 April 2022. These reforms established a system of no-fault divorce, enabled joint applications and strengthened protections for respondents, including by making provision to delay the final order where financial disadvantage may arise before the settlement becomes final.

The law governing financial remedies on divorce enables parties to apply to the court for the division of assets. This legislation also allows applications for interim maintenance orders (known as “maintenance pending suit”) once a divorce application has been made. These orders can meet immediate needs, in so far as the court thinks reasonable, before a financial settlement is reached.

The Law Commission conducted a review of the law relating to financial remedies on divorce in December 2024. The Government will be considering issues raised by the Law Commission, including issues relating to vulnerable individuals, in its upcoming consultation on Cohabitation and Financial Remedies.