When formulating a financial settlement on divorce, the court will consider many factors. Among these, the court must consider both the ages of the parties in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution and the length of their relationship.

Divorce after a long marriage

After a long marriage, the court's starting point in dividing the assets will be to share them equally between the parties. However, there could be reasons why this would not produce a fair outcome, particularly if either party's needs for a home and sufficient income to meet their living expenses cannot be met from an immediate 50/50 division of the assets.

Nevertheless, the court would be more likely to question whether a 50/50 division is appropriate in a marriage lasting two years than it would if the parties had been together for 20 years. If the parties have been together for many years, the court is going to be very reluctant to look in detail at the source of the parties' assets and is more likely to take a view that all the parties’ assets are matrimonial in nature and therefore should be shared.

That does not mean that a 50/50 division would be inappropriate in all two-year marriages; it just means that the court would be more concerned to look at where the money had come from in the case of a marriage of this length than it would after a 20-year partnership.

A 'short' marriage

Where a marriage has been short and there are no children, there will be a greater emphasis on the court’s duty to consider a financial clean break order. For example, if the parties have been married for two years and there are no children, the court is more likely to conclude that the parties should be financially self-supporting either immediately or within a defined period of time than if the parties had been together for several decades.

In a very short marriage, the only 'fair' way to proceed may be to look at what the parties brought to the marriage in terms of financial contributions and reflect this in the financial settlement. This consideration will almost always be secondary to a consideration of the parties' needs, particularly if there are young children involved and even in a very short marriage, if the parties have children together, the court’s approach will differ.

People often ask what the courts mean by a 'long' or ‘short’ marriage. There is no guidance on this in the legislation and in fact the courts are not seeking to categorise marriages as long, short or anything else. Each case is highly individual. When determining the length of a marriage the court will more often than not take into consideration any period of pre-marital cohabitation. A couple that has lived together for five years and then been married for ten years will be classed as having a 15 year marriage, assuming the cohabitation and the marriage ran seamlessly together. The end of a marriage is typically classed as when the parties separate rather than when the final divorce order is granted. 

Age

Age is a related factor for the court when considering financial settlements on divorce. The court will look at this in terms of the parties' respective positions in the labour market and the stage they have reached in their chosen career, as well as their ability to retrain to re-enter employment if they have taken time out to care for children or elderly relatives.

There is likely to be a greater focus upon pension provision for divorcing couples in their 50’s than those in their 30’s or 40’s. This is because typically an older party may have a more vulnerable income and future earning capacity.

With age may also come health considerations and potential care needs. This is likely to be an important consideration if one party is considerably older than the other or where one party has a more limited life expectancy.

Other factors

Age and the length of the marriage are not the only factors considered by the court when considering a financial settlement. There is a full checklist of factors set out in Section 25 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 which includes things such as the financial needs and responsibility of each of the parties and the standard of living enjoyed by the family before the breakdown of the marriage. In each individual case the various factors will carry greater or lesser importance.