In deciding the type of settlement to either party in a divorce, one of the factors the court takes into account is the age of the parties and the duration of the marriage. The age of both parties will generally impact other factors also taken into account such as their earning capacity, contributions made and their needs. So a younger couple may not have developed that dependency on one another and remain sufficiently independent compared to an older couple.
Where the marriage breaks down when the couple are young, it may be reasonable to have a ‘clean break’ from one another immediately on divorce where there are no children and the court would expect both parties to make their way in the world on their own. Furthermore, younger spouses are more likely to be able to borrow money than older spouses and this is taken into account when considering lump sum or transfer of property orders.
With regards to the length of the marriage, on the face of it this may be short however, pre-marital cohabitation is taken into account as a relevant factor and certainly in some cases, a couple may cohabit for 20 years then marry and the marriage subsequently breaks down within a few years. It would be unfair to ignore the duration of the full relationship so the totality of the years together are what matters.
The longer the marriage, the more likely each party would have contributed to it and the harder it will be for them to achieve independence when it breaks down. In shorter marriages, the same level of financial dependency has not yet been established and so a clean break with no settlement o either spouse is reasonable. Having said that, where children are present, then the length of the marriage is far less relevant as the children’s carer is likely to have considerable financial needs which will trump other principles.