Better to be safe than sorry

It is a legal truism that a verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on and for many years pre-nuptial agreements had a similar value in the divorce courts but this is no longer the case and pre-nups can be of crucial assistance when considering division of matrimonial assets upon divorce.

As many people are now either marrying later in life or for the second time they are often bringing into the marriage assets that they have accumulated before and there are often children from their previous relationships, and it is not uncommon for them to wish to ensure that they can somehow provide for their children and afford themselves some certainty as to what may happen should their subsequent marriage or relationship break down.

It is becoming a feature of many family solicitors’ practices to advise anybody who is considering embarking on another significant relationship as to how best to protect their position and provide some certainty should things not work out.

Where parties are remarrying, or perhaps marrying later in life having built substantial independent wealth, or even those who have benefitted from family trusts, they seek clarity and peace of mind.

Historically the law in England and Wales has been fairly definite that pre nuptial agreements did not carry much weight when the Courts were faced with making decisions about division of finances after the breakdown of marriage. This is in contrast to many European countries, where pre nuptial or pre marital agreements (as they can also be referred to) are the norm. In recent years the Courts and the Judiciary have within the existing statutory guidelines tried to use the 1973 legislation (the primary Matrimonial Act) to more properly reflect the many social changes that society has gone through since the seventies, and also there is the ever increasing influence of membership of the European Union. Simply put the Courts have been looking more and more favourably at pre nuptial agreements when considering division of matrimonial finances.

There is a feeling among the Judiciary and family lawyers that legislation does need to be put into place and as long ago as 1999 the Government published a green paper “Supporting Families” which promoted pre nuptial agreements