Divorce After a Short Marriage: What Are You Entitled to in England and Wales

The length of a marriage has a significant bearing on how the court approaches the division of finances on divorce. Short marriages are treated differently from long ones, and understanding how the courts think about this can help you form a realistic picture of what to expect.

What counts as a short marriage

There is no fixed definition of a short marriage in English family law. As a general guide, marriages of five years or fewer are often considered short, though this is not a hard rule. The courts look at the full circumstances of each case, including whether the parties lived together before they were married, how intertwined their finances became, and whether children were born of the relationship.

A couple who lived together for three years before a two-year marriage may be treated differently from a couple who married and separated within a year with no prior cohabitation. Context always matters.

How the courts approach shorter marriages

In longer marriages, the starting point for the court is usually that the assets should be divided equally, subject to the needs of both parties. In shorter marriages, this equal sharing principle carries less weight. The court is more likely to look at what each party brought into the marriage and what each party leaves with, with the aim of returning each person broadly to where they started, adjusted for any contributions or changes in circumstance during the marriage.

This means that significant pre-marital assets, such as a property bought and owned entirely by one party before the relationship, may be more likely to be retained by that party in a shorter marriage than in a long one.

Our family law barristers can give you an honest assessment of how the length of your marriage is likely to affect the financial outcome.

What you may still be entitled to

Even in a short marriage, certain entitlements remain. If the parties have children together, the needs of those children take priority, regardless of how long the marriage lasted. Housing and income needs for the primary carer of the children will be addressed. Child maintenance obligations do not depend on the length of the marriage.

If one party made a specific financial sacrifice during the marriage, such as giving up employment to support the other or to care for children, that will be taken into account. The court does not simply disregard contributions because the marriage was brief.

Where things get more complicated

Short marriages can become complicated where the parties mixed their finances significantly during the relationship. Joint bank accounts, jointly purchased property, or a shared business create intertwining that makes a clean separation of pre-marital assets more difficult.

They also become more complicated where one party is significantly better off than the other. Even in a short marriage, if one party has substantial assets and the other has genuine housing needs or income needs that cannot be met independently, the court may make provision to address those needs even if it does not award a share of all the assets.

The importance of early advice

People in shorter marriages sometimes assume that the financial consequences will be limited or that matters will resolve quickly. This is not always the case. Getting early advice helps you understand what the likely range of outcomes is for your specific situation, rather than relying on general assumptions about short marriages.

Understanding what you are likely to be entitled to and what the other party is likely to be entitled to puts you in a position to negotiate sensibly and avoid unnecessary litigation.

You can read more about how direct access advice works in our guide to using a direct access barrister for divorce.

If you have questions about your situation, we would be happy to talk them through to see if a direct access barrister can help. Contact us here.