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Introduction
When the court decides what is a fair outcome it has to look at certain factors which are listed in section 25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
For civil partners the list is the same but is found in Schedule 5 Part 5 Civil Partnership Act 2004.
The court looks at:
All the circumstances
The welfare of your children when they are under 18
This means 'children of the family' who are children raised by you both even if they are not biologically children of you both. The welfare of the children doesn't decide the case but it is important and this means that the court will look carefully at how to ensure the children have somewhere stable to live.
Your and your ex’s income, property, and other financial resources
properties
business or company assets
assets individually worth more than £500
money owed to you
life insurance
savings and investments
debts
pensions
income
assets in trust
This includes what you might have in the foreseeable future
How much you could earn – could either of you earn more? Are your earnings limited by health or age or obligations such as looking after kids?
What amount you need to live on
Any responsibilities or obligations you have (this can include caring responsibilities)
The standard of living you had during the marriage, although in most cases you will experience a drop in your standard of living after divorce
How old you each are
How long the marriage was (including any period of living together before you were married)
Any physical or mental disability (yours, your ex’s, or a child’s). This can be a very important factor.
Any agreement you and your ex reached either before marriage (i.e. a prenuptial agreement) or more recently about the finances. This can be a very important factor depending on what the agreement says and whether it was reached through a fair process.
Any money you might lose the chance of getting once you are divorced. This is generally only relevant to pensions if your ex-spouse dies.
Your contributions to the family’s welfare, both financial and non-financial (such as raising children). There is more information about this below.
Contributions you will make in the future, such as raising the children.
Your or your ex’s conduct if it would be unfair to ignore it. There is more information about this below.
You can see that taking all these things into account and weighing up how important they are in a case can’t lead to one ‘right’ outcome. It’s too complicated for that. But experience tells lawyers how these factors and the guidance given by the higher courts can lead us to identify what range of possible outcomes would be fair.