The Law Commission is to bring ‘clarity and predictability’ to the law entitling married couples and civil partners to claim financial provision from one another upon divorce or dissolution of their partnership, it was announced this week.

The commission said that it aims to review two areas of the law that cause particular difficulties. These are the extent to which one party should be required to meet the other’s needs after the relationship has ended and how non-matrimonial property should be treated upon divorce or dissolution of a partnership.

Non-matrimonial property is property acquired by either party before the marriage or partnership, or property that either party received during the marriage or partnership as a gift or inheritance.

Family law commissioner Professor Elizabeth Cooke said: ‘This work will complement our current project on marital property agreements, in which we are considering whether a couple should be able to make a legally binding agreement before or during their marriage or civil partnership about the financial arrangement they will make if the relationship fails.

‘The project will raise technical legal questions that the Law Commission is well-placed to address. But any reform of the law must also be informed by wide-scale consultation with the legal profession and those of the wider public who are affected by the deficiencies in the current system.

‘We therefore aim to publish a detailed consultation paper later this year and final report during 2013.’