subject: UK Prenuptial Agreements - Have You Considered One? [print this page] If you and your partner are planning on getting married in the UK then it may be a good idea to consider the benefits of making a UK prenuptial agreement. Obviously no one wants to think of divorce before they even get married, a prenuptial agreement can offer significant protection for your personal assets in the unfortunate event of a divorce.Divorces are more often than not bitter experiences. The situation becomes aggravated by discussions of the division of assets and the fact that one spouse may have to continue maintaining the other post divorce. A UK prenuptial agreement avoids thisThe prenup usually determines that any property belonging to a spouse before marriage remains theirs following a divorce. It will detail who will get what from the shared marital assets. It is also important that any prenuptial agreement should be signed no later than 21 days before the wedding. If it is made later than this, then the court could well assume that one party was being pressurised into making the agreement.If you reside in the UK you must acknowledge that your prenup is not legally enforceable in this country. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the prenuptial agreement is a waste of time. On the other hand the court might consider the fact that the prenup was agreed by both parties. And cases in the Court of Appeal have also seen judges taking them into account before making a ruling. However, a court will usually only take a UK prenuptial agreement into account if the marriage had been long lasting, so if your marriage lasted only a short period, the chances are any prenuptial will be ignored.If you are going to form a prenup is it strongly advisable that you get advice first from a specialised solicitor. There is nothing which prevents you and your partner from forming your own agreement or even using these ?prenup? packs available online, which claim to help you to produce and agreement without the need for lawyers. Doing this would not be sensible.A solicitor will ensure your UK pre-nuptial agreement is copper tight, while any DIY effort might well lead to problems in the court, causing even more upset in the unhappy event of a divorce.
UK Prenuptial Agreements - Have You Considered One?
