Fiona Shackleton: Celebrity divorce lawyer to develop relationship app to stop teenagers rushing into marriage

Celebrity divorce lawyer Baroness Shackleton is hoping to develop a new relationship app to stop teenagers rushing into marriage.

In what could look like a move to put her and fellow lawyers out of work, Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia is hoping to develop the app for schools to encourage teenagers to think about why they want to get married so young.  

She sponsored research at Exeter University called the Shackleton Relationships Project. And in 2018 it reported that there were two common causes of relationship breakdowns: unrealistic expectations and incompatibility. 

The report also found such issues “could and arguably should be discovered” before a couple decided to marry.  

Compatibility

It suggested young people should ask a number of questions before committing to each other which include:

• Are my partner and I a ‘good fit’?
• Do we have a strong basis of friendship?
• Do we want the same things in our relationship and out of life?
• Are our expectations realistic?
• Do we generally see the best in each other?
• Do we both work at keeping our relationship vibrant?

Consider your prospects

Lady Shackleton, who has represented a host of high-profile clients including the Prince of Wales and Sir Paul McCartney in their divorce cases, wants the report to form the basis of the app and a series of classroom modules to help young people “consider why they are getting married”, she said in a film interview for the website First 100 Years.

“What we are trying to do is to get a module to go into schools or an app so people can consider why they are getting married,” she said in the short film.

“For example, do you get married because you want to get out of your school uniform and get a wedding dress?

“Do you want the white wedding? Do you like the sex? What would you do if their spouse lost their job? Do you believe in family life? Do you believe in divorce?”

Confessions

Lady Shackleton, who qualified as a solicitor in 1980, added: “What I have learnt is that of all the people I have divorced, probably 50 per cent of them or more have confessed that they married the wrong person.

“They have said: ‘I knew just before, or when I was getting married, or soon afterwards, that I had made a hideous mistake’. So it either catch up and mend it or be very unhappy and they end up with me.”

“If we stop two people from getting married who shouldn’t, then it will be money well spent and it would do us out of a job,” she added.  

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