Pre-nup or no Pre-nup?

Could a Pre-nuptial Agreement be a safety net of the future or is it a death knell to a relationship”

What is a pre-nuptial Agreement? In short, a Pre-nuptial Agreement is a pre-martial agreement in the form of a written contract. It is between the bride and groom to be and sets out how their assets should be distributed (or remain theirs) should their marriage fail.

Although no-one wants to admit a relationship may breakdown, few of us, if we are honest, can look into the future, and therefore do pre-nuptial agreements give at least some of us peace of mind? Does anyone really want to be thinking hindsight is a wonderful thing, I really should have made a Pre-nup.

A recent Court of Appeal decision has shown that although Pre-nuptial Agreements are not legally binding and considered by some to be against public policy the Courts are beginning to recognise their status and there are strong indications that these agreements may be treated as binding, except where there are strong reasons to disregard them. This seems to be moving on from the current approach which is that the person who benefits from the Pre-nuptial agreement fighting as to why it should stand. Perhaps in the future we may not be so far set apart from virtually all our European neighbours.

It could be argued that especially for short, child-free marriages there could be distinct benefits and although the recognition of pre-nups has not hit the statute books as yet it could certainly be a not too distant agenda.