Short Marriages

It may be the society that I keep, but one of the wearisome aspects of being a family specialist is being called upon, when off duty, to justify the present state of the law relating to ancillary relief (not that they ever call it that), and it is the size of awards following a short marriage that is more often than not the topic of choice of the testy (usually male) dinner party companion. This article attempts to do that.

As we know the duration of the marriage is one of the s.25 criteria in the 1973 legislation, specifically S.25 (d) where it is grouped with the ages of each of the parties to the marriage. For nearly thirty years I would have given much the same explanation as to the Courts approach to a short marriage. Since 2001 however, that explanation would have had to have changed repeatedly, and only now, with Miller¹ and McCartney² do we seem to have arrived at a settled position again.