Will Pre-Nuptials Become Legal?
Welcome to Part Three of Divorce the HNWI Way. In this instalment, the topic is pre-nuptials - one we expect to see more of in the year to come. Our anonymous reader/writer/banker/father takes us through it.
Just before Christmas, the family courts moved a step closer to confirming the status of pre-nuptial agreements - and they appear to be giving them a higher rating.
Professional divorcée Susan Crossley lost her appeal, which means the assets of her divorce will be decided on a single day in February as opposed to during an eighteen month trial.
This is supposedly to relieve pressure on the already massive family law system, which sounds a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas. There were four reasons given for having a short trial:
At the moment pre-nuptial agreements are used mostly to set out the assets bought into the marriage. If assets were not declared in this then it will be interesting to see how these are divided - allowing for the length of the marriage and the lack of children. Of course wealth is not a consideration. It used to be that the needs were taken into account. Now a 50/50 split is the starting point unless you are talking Paul McCartney wealth.
So it is still not safe to get married even with a pre-nuptial - but watch this space. The family courts will not give up their international power base without a huge fight.
And in the meantime, the big winners are the lawyers. As ever.
Read Part One here, and Part Two here.
Professional divorcée Susan Crossley lost her appeal, which means the assets of her divorce will be decided on a single day in February as opposed to during an eighteen month trial.
This is supposedly to relieve pressure on the already massive family law system, which sounds a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas. There were four reasons given for having a short trial:
- The length of the marriage
- The absence of children
- The independent wealth of both parties
- The pre-nuptial agreement
At the moment pre-nuptial agreements are used mostly to set out the assets bought into the marriage. If assets were not declared in this then it will be interesting to see how these are divided - allowing for the length of the marriage and the lack of children. Of course wealth is not a consideration. It used to be that the needs were taken into account. Now a 50/50 split is the starting point unless you are talking Paul McCartney wealth.
So it is still not safe to get married even with a pre-nuptial - but watch this space. The family courts will not give up their international power base without a huge fight.
And in the meantime, the big winners are the lawyers. As ever.
Read Part One here, and Part Two here.
Article Comments & Ratings
Pubman 17th Jan, 11:23am
Two golden rules for pre-nups to be ignored completly by the courts.
1) was full disclosure of all assets made by both parties?
2) was there any form of duress. For example was the prenup signed in the days or weeks running up to the wedding when either party would feel more pressurised to conform.
Avoid those, ideally signing a couple of months in advance, and you're more likely to have the court consider it in the event of a divorce
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