One of the country’s most senior family lawyers, Baroness Deech, has criticised court awards to ex-wives of half a couple’s wealth. She says settlements that keep women in comfort at the expense of their former husbands should be scrapped – on the basis they are unfair to men and demeaning to women.

Lady Deech spoke out after a series of multi-million pound divorce pay-outs to wives who have been married to rich men for only a short time. Last year, for example, Heather Mills walked away from her four-year marriage to Sir Paul McCartney with a £24 million settlement.

Well, I agree with Baroness Deech. Whilst it is entirely right that a woman should get a 50-50 split if a couple’s wealth was accrued during a long marriage in which the wife played an important, if only a supporting, role, it is patently unfair for a high-earning man to lose a swathe of his assets when a brief marriage comes to an end. A woman who has lived off her husband’s money during what may have been only a short time together ought not to expect to enjoy the same lifestyle once the marriage is over. Why should she?

The Baroness said women of working age without young children to support should be encouraged to look after themselves. And she blamed judges for creating a “half-and-half” divorce law without any reference to Parliament.

Her comments follow on from a recent survey which claimed divorce courts in the south of England are more likely to favour ex-wives by awarding maintenance for life whilst those in the north tended to benefit husbands with a one-off “clean break” settlement.

Certainly there should be greater consistency in the way divorce courts approach financial settlements. However, every case is different and the law is as flexible as it is for precisely this reason: it is important for judges to be able to use their discretion when asked to decide on a financial settlement.

Nevertheless, it is time the divorce courts entered the 21^st century and acknowledged that women are perfectly capable of standing on their own two feet after divorce. It is one thing to ensure “needs” are addressed, but quite another to hand out an award to an ex-wife to continue to get her hair done four times a week.