Autonomy and Agency in Family Justice: Gender Roles, Financial Dependency, and Divorce

This book investigates the privately negotiated financial arrangements made by divorcing couples where no legal advice or financial orders were sought.It calls for a re-evaluation of the assumptions of autonomy and agency held by policy makers and adds to the debates around the role and purpose of family law in England and Wales. Drawing on interviews with divorced military wives, the book provides a case study of the operation of current family law principles and values in a context where highly gendered familial roles are a key feature.It provides fresh insight into the challenges presented by neoliberal understandings of autonomy and agency, which presume that individuals have freely chosen to organise their lives in a way that creates dependency and financial precarity.It adopts a socio-legal framework to examine how the interpersonal dynamics established during marriage influence financial decision-making. The book argues that there are important lessons to be learned from militar