Whenever I sit in on debates involving private client lawyers I get fresh insights into how miserable life can be if you are seriously wealthy. Recently, a group of senior private client lawyers gathered at the London Stock Exchange for a panel debate hosted by Legal Week.

A big chunk of the session, which was chaired by the leading family barrister Nicholas Francis QC, focused on divorce law. I knew about pre-nups. But I must confess I didn't know that there was also something called a post-nuptial or post-marital agreement, which is like a pre-nup, but signed immediately after marriage. Apparently they are gaining ground in the UK. But it isn't exactly very romantic to stop off at your legal advisers on the way back from the airport at the end of your honeymoon in order to safeguard yourself against the consequences of a messy divorce. Guess what? Anecdotal evidence suggests people who sign post-nups often end up getting divorced.

Despite the recent controversy over changes to the tax regime for non-domiciles in the UK, this country still remains an attractive place for rich people to base themselves in – unless, that is, they get divorced, and regard themselves as having generated the lion's share of the family's wealth. This is because of the way family law has been developing in this country, to the point where judges assume that divorcing couples should share their assets equally unless there are grounds to take a different approach. To make matters worse, the Family Division's judges are notorious for their willingness to target assets squirreled away in offshore trusts, as typified by the epic Charman vs Charman divorce battle.