Financial Provision on Divorce

Lord St John of Bletso Excerpts

Monday 10th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord St John of Bletso (CB)]

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 scoping report we are discussing today laid bare many facts that we knew before, including that the law governing financial revision on divorce is no longer fit for purpose. The report’s conclusion is stark:

“The law lacks certainty, and accessibility to an extent that it could be argued to be inconsistent with the rule of law”.


When the rule of law itself is called into question, we cannot simply sit back and wait for the Government to consider their options indefinitely.

As many have mentioned, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, now well over 50 years old, was from a different generation—I say this with all respect to my noble and learned friend Lady Butler-Sloss—and society has changed. The consequences of this inaction are profound and far-reaching, as we see in the 26% of applicants who lack legal representation and must navigate the labyrinthine system alone. As too often happens, legal costs consume the very assets that families are fighting over, leaving children deprived of the financial stability that they should have in their inheritance.

The noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, spoke powerfully about the uncertainty that plagues the current system. This is not justice; this is a lottery, and as my noble friend Lady Deech rightly pointed out, judicial discretion intended to provide flexibility has instead become a source of unpredictability and expense. Judges apply their own vision of what is fair, there is no clear statutory guidance and couples are left with no way of knowing what the outcome will be.

Clearly, one of the most powerful and needed reforms is that of prenuptial agreements. I practised as a divorce attorney in South Africa, where under the Corpus Juris Civilis and Roman Dutch law, prenuptial agreements have worked for many decades. When the Divorce (Financial Provision) Bill was debated in 2018, there was a belief that reform was imminent. Sadly, seven years later, prenuptial agreements are still not enforced by courts in England and Wales and the can is constantly being kicked down the road. Having prenuptial agreements enforceable would provide certainty, reduce litigation and save enormous sums in legal fees.

Of course, safeguards are essential. There must be financial disclosure; there must be independent legal advice; and the terms must be free, fair and reasonable. Crucially, the welfare—as several Members have already mentioned—and needs of children, must always be paramount and determined separately. But to deny couples the autonomy to agree their own financial arrangements is paternalistic and out of step with modern life. As noble Lords have mentioned, the Law Commission has presented four models for reform, from single codification to more radical default.

In conclusion, I hope the Minister, whom I congratulate on her new appointment, will give us, in winding up, first, a timetable for introducing a Bill to enforce prenuptial agreements and, secondly, a commitment to wholesale modernisation of this antiquated and damaging area of law. The case for reform is overwhelming.