Pre-Nuptial Agreement

Before a couple marry, they may decide to try and regulate what is to happen to the assets of their marriage (or their civil partnership) in the event of a divorce or dissolution, by entering into a pre nuptial agreement.

At present prenuptial agreements are not however legally binding in the UK.

For a long time, they have been considered against public policy as they appear to undermine marriage, however, there has been a recent change in judicial thinking with more judges now prepared to consider that a fair and reasonable prenuptial agreement signed in the right circumstances, should potentially be upheld. This means that although they are not enforceable in UK law, the court will now take any such prenuptial agreement into account when making its final decision as to how matrimonial assets should be divided.

If prenuptial agreements are not legally binding at present, some may ask whether it is worth in fact actually entering into one.
When a court decides how to divide matrimonial assets between the parties it will consider “all the circumstances of the case.” If two adults have signed an agreement setting out what they think should happen if they were to divorce in the future, then it is quite appropriate that the prenuptial agreement should be taken into account as part of the circumstances of the case.