Throughout life we take out many difference insurance policies to protect ourselves and our loved ones, for example; life insurance or income protection. A prenuptial agreement should not be viewed any differently; it acts as insurance for your personal assets in the case of a divorce.
In order to be valid a prenup agreement must be formed before the wedding. It is also advisable it is signed no later than 21 days to the wedding, lest it be decreed by the courts that one of the couple was "forced" to sign while under duress.
The concept of the prenup is that it protects the assets that the couple took individually into the relationship. This offers security to those who may have taken the biggest amount of wealth and property into relationship. Where without a prenup the assets would be split 50/50 between the two parties, with a prenup the party bringing in most the assets would then retain those assets.
Any assets acquired during the marriage will also be accounted if the event of a divorce. The prenup can state that those producing the largest amount of wealth can hold onto it if the marriage ends.
A prenup can take into account any children one of the parties take into the marriage. The prenuptial contract can decide which of the children gets what should the couple divorce.
While the prenuptial contract does have offer a large degree of security as to the protection of assets following a divorce, strictly speaking, they are not enforceable under English law. However, following the recent case involving German heiress Karen Radmacher, it does appear that the courts in England are likely to increasingly take them into account when ruling on the division of assets. Because of this legal uncertainty it is essential that prenups are drawn up correctly in order not to be thrown out by the courts.
Although there is no strict legal requirement that a prenuptial agreement be drafted by solicitor it is strongly advisable. An experienced solicitor will use proper drafting techniques to ensure that the agreement has been drawn up properly and therefore lessen the chances that one party can challenge it at a later date. This will ensure the agreement does exactly what it was originally intended to do - give the security of protected assets following a divorce.