Scots family law provides detailed legislation which regulates the sharing of property and finances on the breakdown of marriage, civil partnership and, to a limited extent, cohabitation, but increasingly couples opt instead to regulate the consequences of relationship breakdown by agreement. It is thought that there is widespread use of such agreements but very little is known about them, their content and outcomes, the negotiation process, the role of legal advisers or the extent to which the parties may feel that they are bargaining 'within the shadow of the law'. Separation agreements take the form of legally binding Minutes of Agreement. These are registered and stored in the National Archives of Scotland and accordingly they are public documents. This research will study a sample of agreements registered in 2010, followed up by interviews with parties and solicitors who have been involved in drafting agreements. It will be of considerable importance to lawyers, policymakers and individuals who are themselves involved in such private ordering.

Interviews