Legal Director
Greene & Greene Solicitors
It’s that time of year when the wedding season is in full swing. Whilst many brides and grooms do, understandably, focus on the main event itself being the big day, an ever-increasing number of couples are also considering the sensible question of whether they need a pre-nuptial agreement.
Whilst it may seem unromantic, or even pessimistic to enter into a pre-nuptial agreement, couples are frequently becoming more aware of the effect their nuptials could have on their financial future.
A pre-nuptial agreement is a Contract entered into between two parties before they marry. It records the ownership of assets, and details what will happen to those assets should be the marriage break down.
In the past, pre-nuptial agreements were considered to be reserved for exclusive use of wealthy individuals and celebrities. However, they are becoming more commonplace, and some would say they are a sensible way of starting out in marriage with a shared intention of trust and openness. In fact, the Marriage Foundation conducted a survey in the Summer of August 2021 which found that one in five couples who married since 2000 had some form of pre-nuptial agreement in place.
The law in relation to married couples is different to couples who cohabit. Cohabitants who separate simply retain their own separate property. Once married, assets you formerly owned before marriage may, in certain circumstances, become what is known as a “matrimonial asset”. This means that if the marriage ends, those assets could be within the “matrimonial pot” and shared. A pre-nuptial agreement allows for each party to ‘ring-fence’ certain assets to protect them from this scenario. This is often especially significant if either of the parties has children from a previous relationship.
Pre-nuptial agreements are considered by the Court as one of the circumstances of the case in the event of later divorce and the Court will decide what weight to attach to the Agreement. In doing so the court would look at the circumstances in which it was made. There are certain criteria that must be met to ensure that a pre-nuptial agreement can have the best possible chance of being upheld, and therefore it is important to seek specialist legal advice on the subject.
It is also possible to enter into a pre-nuptial agreement after marriage, and in this scenario the name of the agreement is a “post-nuptial agreement”. A post-nuptial agreement will be considered by the court in the same way as a pre-nuptial agreement provided that it meets the same criteria.
This article is only intended to be a summary and not specific legal advice.
Read more articles by Emma Alfieri.
About Emma Alfieri
Emma Alfieri is a Legal Director at Suffolk firm Greene & Greene Solicitors.
Emma advises on all aspects of family law, including divorce and associated financial matters, disputes between cohabitants and child related disputes.
A member of Resolution, Emma is committed to resolving disputes as positively and agreeably as possible whilst also being motivated to obtain the best possible outcome for her clients.
Since 2012 Emma has been consistently recommended by the Legal 500 on an annual basis and in the most recent 2024 edition Emma is ranked as a “rising star”.
As an advocate of fault free divorce, Emma lobbied at Parliament with other members of Resolution in 2016 to bring about the recent changes to divorce law.