Money and your life

Discusses the advantages of the Scottish separation contract, in which separating couples decide on how to divide up their property themselves, rather than leaving a court do to it, thus saving court time and public funds. Notes the general enforceability of such agreements, which can however be set aside or varied under the Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985 s.16 if they can be shown to be unfair or unreasonable at the time they were made. Refers to the Sheriff Court decisions in Clarkson v Mitchell and Nolan v MacDonald which illustrate circumstances in which the courts would vary such agreements.