On granting a decree of judicial separation or at any time thereafter the court may, on application by either spouse or by a person on behalf of a dependent member of the family and during the lifetime of the other spouse or, as appropriate, the spouse concerned, make a financial compensation order where it considers that the financial security of the applicant or the dependent member can be provided wholly or partly by so doing, or that forfeiture of the opportunity to acquire a benefit (for example under a pension scheme) can be compensated. The order may require either or both spouses to effect a life insurance policy for the benefit of the applicant or dependent, to assign all or part of an interest in a life policy to the applicant or a specified person for the benefit of the dependent, or to make or continue payments required under the policy.

The court may make such an order in addition to or in substitution, in whole or in part, for orders under sections 8 to 10 and 12 and must have regard to whether proper provision can be made under those sections. An order ceases to have effect in so far as it relates to the applicant on the applicant's remarriage, registration in a civil partnership or death, and the court shall not make an order if the applying spouse has remarried or registered in a civil partnership. An order under section 18 relating to a paragraph (i) or (ii) order may make such provision as the court considers appropriate for disposal of any accumulated value of the insurance policy or of the interest to which the assignment relates.