By Peter Jones, Partner

The headlines make for grim reading: long term unemployment is at its highest level since 1996; income growth has slowed to 0.6 per cent, well below inflation; the Eurozone crisis deepens and the Bank of England has cuts its growth forecast to around 0.8 per cent, indicating that the economy won’t return to its pre-crisis status until 2014.

Add to that the withdrawal of interest-only mortgages and increases in Standard Variable Rates from major mortgage lenders, and each month adds to the tally of households which are feeling the squeeze to an unbearable degree.

So where does this leave couples whose relationships have already hit the rocks, for whom the financial climate brings the Catch-22 of heaping further stress on the pair whilst also leaving them with difficult financial decisions for the future if their marriage ends in divorce? Continue reading →