UK divorce laws, currently an important wealth management issue, should be remodelled along European lines, where couples contemplating marriage see lawyers to discuss pre-nuptial agreements, an expert in family law will say today, according to the Financial Times.

Baroness Deech, chair of the UK Bar Standards Board, which regulates barristers, will hold up the European system - where pre- and post-nuptial agreements are common - as “an immediate and attractive model for reform in this country”.

As WealthBriefing has reported, recent cases have already signalled that the landscape for divorce law in England and Wales – there are different laws in Scotland – is changing, but at present pre- nuptial agreements are not legally binding, though they are given increasing weight by the courts.

Because courts have made huge awards to the wives of much wealthier husbands, London has been dubbed “divorce capital of the world”.

Lady Deech will say the current rules send the message that “getting married to a well-off man is an alternative career to one in the workforce”.