England 'Divorce Capital' of Europe |
A senior family lawyer has labelled England as the ‘divorce capital of Europe’ with a divorce system that is both ‘paternalistic and unprincipled’.
According to Lady Deech, chair of the Bar Standards Board, divorce settlements that automatically keep ex-wives in comfort at the expense of ex-husbands are wrong and the fact that assets can be divided equally even in the case of a short marriage is ‘sending the wrong message’.
"Trot down the road to the law courts and there you'll find a woman with maybe no particular qualifications, married for a short time to a celebrity of some sort, will walk away with many, many millions", Lady Deech says.
"The message that's going out is marry a footballer, marry a banker, stick it out for a few years and your lifestyle will always be on that level", she says.
Lady Deech has called for the government to reform divorce laws to make them fairer stating that judges should only consider splitting assets acquired during the marriage and not those from before the marriage.
Last changed: Sep 23 2009 at 10:26 AM
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