Before a court makes an order, it has to look at a checklist of considerations. These are set out in Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. This is the main statute dealing with divorce and finance. For the full text of the law click on the section numbers.
When negotiating a financial agreement or settlement, these are the considerations that influence those discussions.
Here is a summary of the main considerations:
The needs of the children
This would include how much maintenance they would need and also where they will live (see the Child Support Act section in common issues).
Duration of the marriage
The longer the marriage, the more weight will be given to meeting the long-term needs of a spouse.
The age of the couple
Again, the needs of a spouse will vary depending on age, affecting things such as career prospects or the ability to save for retirement.
Contributions during the marriage
This will include working in the home and bringing up the children, which will be valued equally to the financial contribution of a breadwinner. Recent cases have made it clear that, where one party works and the other doesn't, their contributions are equally as important.
Pensions and loss of widow's benefits
See the question 'What can we do with the pensions?' in the FAQ section.
The financial resources of each spouse
This includes every resource or possible resource that either spouse may have in the foreseeable future and will include earning capacity and borrowing capacity where relevant.
The needs of each spouse
This is often regarded as the main factor and usually splits into expenditure needs (for maintenance) and housing needs.
For the majority of families going through divorce, the financial division has to be a finely judged balance between the needs of the separating spouses, considering the children first, and matching those needs from the overall financial resources.
For a discussion of some of the difficulties that often arise, see FAQs. This deals with maintenance – how much is fair, maintenance and the clean break, pensions, inheritances, new partners and the Child Support Act.