Legal Aid cuts and divorce
Proposed cuts to the legal aid budget announced yesterday could prompt married couples to consider ‘before the event’ insurance to cover the legal costs associated with divorce proceedings.
Legal aid support will no longer be available for most civil cases, including divorce. Only civil cases where life or liberty are at stake will remain eligible for legal aid.
These proposals are aimed at stopping people from resorting to the use of laywers and the court system whenever they have a dispute. As a result, we could see greater use of tools such as mediation and collaborative law to reach divorce settlements.
Getting married in the knowledge that often expensive divorce proceedings will be out of financial reach should the relationship break down could prompt couples to consider insuring against such an eventuality.
Alternatively, couples could look to prenuptial agreements as a future solution to avoid hefty legal bills.
Following the outcome of the Supreme Court judgement in the Radmacher appeal last month, prenups have greater legal weight and should become more widespread in the UK as a result.
Whilst divorce insurance is only currently available in the UK from one company, it has been around in the US since 2005. Couples might expect to pay around £750 as a one-off premium for such a policy.
With the average cost of legal fees for divorce in the UK at around £13,000, this might be a price worth paying. Whether it would make for an appropriate wedding gift between spouses or not is another question!
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A fascinating idea, and, may I say, a welcome antidote to my current rage at the government’s proposals.
Whether it will work or not is a moot point but not one that we need to resolve immediately. Instead, we do need to start thinking creatively, and this is where it starts.
As I was reading your post I was contemplating at which stage does a couple actually buy the insurance? The day before the wedding – “Oh, one last thing….” – or several months before – “Now, before we go any further…”
The commercialty is unattractive. “Get your Divorce Insurance here, with FREE Pre-nuptial Agreement”
I found the connection you made between the Radmacher judgment regarding pre-nuptials and the government’s boldness in making such swingeing cuts to be curiously alarming for a moment. You will have the conspiracy theorists constructing narratives to suggest that the Courts are in cahoots with Government to pave the way for policy change.
I’ll leave it to someone else to expand that theory.
Right then, back to my indignant rage!
Martin,
I am not sure about that form of before the event legal expense insurance. Surely its just a gimmick?
We offer a “before the event” cover as part of our comprehensive protection for maintenance payments (both child and spousal). However the “event” that triggers cover is the non payment of maintenance by the maintenance payer. The legal expenses insurance then pays for enforcement action and debt recovery procedures to get the money flowing once more. No need to go cap in hand to Legal Aid saving the tax payer the cost.
Surely this is the sort of cover the justice minister had in mind?