Codification by degrees: reforming financial claims on divorce in England and Wales. A Californian approach?

England and Wales may be on the brink of the most important reform of financial remedies for a generation. But if discretion is the bedrock of the 1973 Act, will codification strengthen or weaken it?

In this timely comparative article, Alexander Breedon (Withers London) and Leslie Evans (Withers San Diego) examine the Government’s proposed 'codification-plus' model through a Californian lens. California’s community property regime offers an alluring promise: clearer rules, greater transparency and a firmer platform for settlement. Yet its experience is not without challenges. In some ways, rather than reducing litigation, codification simply relocates it. In California, you still see arguments about fairness becoming disputes about characterisation, tracing, valuation, reimbursement, stock options, trusts, mixed property, and more. For English practitioners, the article asks the real question beneath the consultation: can Parliament make the law more accessible without sacrificing the flexibility needed to do justice for separating families, in all their complexities? From needs and sharing to nuptial agreements, pensions and domestic abuse, this is not simply a tidying-up exercise. It is a debate about what fairness should look like when financial remedies law is rewritten.