Prenuptial Agreements

Prenuptial agreements may not be at the forefront of your mind when planning a wedding or civil partnership. However, no one knows what the future may hold and, whilst we hope that you will have a long and happy life together, this is not always the case.

A prenuptial agreement is a document which sets out what the parties want to happen to their assets if they are in the unfortunate situation that the marriage or civil partnership has broken down. Anyone can enter into a prenuptial agreement and they are not just relevant to the wealthy. Once you are married or have entered into a civil partnership, all assets regardless of who owns them are most likely placed into the pot for division. A prenuptial agreement can save you both significant sums of money in the future.

Our advice is to ensure that any prenuptial agreement is prepared well in advance of the marriage or civil partnership. This is to ensure that the agreement is not rushed and a judge is more likely to look on it favourably compared to one that is prepared at the last minute.

A judge will consider a prenuptial agreement when deciding how to divide the family’s assets but it is not legally binding. It will be more persuasive if both parties understand the extent of the other party’s financial position, neither one of them has been pressured into signing it and both parties have taken independent legal advice.

We are unable to offer a fixed fee for prenuptial agreements. The reason for this is because we often cannot tell at an initial appointment how much work may be involved in resolving your matter or the level of cooperation from the other person. Our time will be charged at hourly rates plus VAT and any disbursements. We will provide you with a cost estimate at the outset of your matter.