Prenuptial agreements are contracts that are signed by a couple prior to marriage or a civil partnership. They specify the assets each party brings to the union and explain how these and assets acquired throughout the relationship are to be divided in the event of divorce or separation and dissolution.
Such agreements and how the law in the UK treats them is complex. If you are drawing one up or are given one by your partner, you should seek legal advice. If you are looking for family law solicitors London, you will find companies such as //bridgelawsolicitors.co.uk/divorce-and-family-law-solicitors/london/.
History of prenups in UK courts
Currently, English and Welsh courts use the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 section 25 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004 schedule 5 to decide on financial settlements after divorce or dissolution respectively.
Although prenuptial agreements will not automatically be deemed enforceable, thanks to the supreme court ruling in Radmacher v Granatino in 2010, courts are required to consider such agreements if the parties entered into them voluntarily and understood the potential consequences. The courts have the backstop that they may not recognise a prenup if to do so would be unfair.
How do the courts treat prenups?
Since the decision in Radmacher v Granatino, courts in the family division have been instructed to infer that if parties have entered into a prenuptial agreement, they have intended that this agreement should be honoured at the end of the relationship. The rider to this is that the decision must be based on the merits of each case.
Are prenups popular in the UK?
A couple of decades ago, these arrangements were considered to be the area of the super-rich or Hollywood stars; today, they have become a part of the UK family law landscape. A recent report suggested that they were on the increase and that over 20% of married couples in the UK had one in place.
This is no surprise, as a YouGov survey in 2023 found that over 40% of the British population deemed prenups a good idea.
