It’s going to be a big 12 months in the political world in the UK, from this summer’s European voting to next year’s general election, with a referendum on Scottish independence sandwiched in between. Don’t worry, this is not a political statement, more a musing over the financial implications of splitting up.

We all know – whether it is from bitter experience, social contact or reading the newspaper – how costly a divorce can be. It never tends to be amicable either, so the only winners are the lawyers who make a living out of complicating the situation to their hearts’ content.

Business split-ups can be messy and costly too, although interestingly there seems to be a better track record of these being completed without some of the animosity attached to a marriage breakdown.

Raging Debate
So, let’s scale everything up to a national level and wonder what the cost will be of a divorce between Scotland and the rest of the United (or should it now be called Disunited) Kingdom. Would it be just like a large-scale divorce or are there other factors in play? Well I can’t see the Scots getting 50% of overall UK assets or a share of the future income streams, but I do know that the lawyers will get even richer if they have to work out who gets what. There’s already a debate raging about whether or not Scotland would be able to be part of the UK monetary system and keep sterling as its currency. Probably not is the answer, as cherry-picking the best bits isn’t usually available to the one who wants to walk away.

And what of the continent? Business leaders strongly favour remaining married to the rest of Europe, but there is a significant groundswell amongst the population at large that business leaders are wrong. Are they? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it’s one we need to find a solution to if we are plunged into the messiest, most expensive divorce of them all.