Is A UK Prenuptial Agreement an Unfortunate Necessity?

You wouldn't view taking out home insurance as an invitation for burglars to come and rob your home. So why see making a pre-nuptial agreement, a form of marriage insurance, as a premonition for divorce?

So why is it that couples shy away from taking out an insurance policy against their marriage? The phrase 'prenuptial agreement' in itself is too much of a mouthful for some. But if you are tempted to think that way, there's no harm in taking a fresh look at the facts.

Recent reports have shown that the average marriage in the UK lasts for 13 years - a figure that falls well short of the anticipated lifetime! Also, depending on where you like to take your figures from, divorce occurs in around 40 or 50 per cent of cases. This is just one strong reason why the prenuptial agreement (also called a prenuptial contract) is becoming increasingly popular in the UK. The bare facts are that after tying the knot all of a couple's assets become matrimonial assets and a prenuptial agreement has the express aim of trying to limit any claims on those assets by the other party should the marriage end prematurely.

It is fact that prenuptial agreements are not legally enforceable in UK courts. Yet a prenuptial agreement properly drawn up by a specialist family solicitor certainly acts as persuasive evidence to a court over how a couple wished to divide their property before they entered into marriage. It is proabable that prenuptial agreements will become part of the law in the future, however even in the meanwhile they effect the results of divorce cases quite significantly. In fact following the recent case of the German heiress Karen Radmacher, it seems likely that UK courts will place increasing importance on any prenuptial contract when dividing up the family's assets on divorce.

Although still a relatively modern phenomenon, prenuptial agreements are already becoming increasingly popular as a way of protecting assets owned before marriage, inherited assets and legacies to children from a previous marriage. They can therefore be more useful for those whom have built up their personal assets and re-marry later on in life.

The purpose of a UK prenup - as with home, health or pet insurance - is that in an ideal world we will never need it. Yet the very process of striving to protect what we consider to be of great value is more of a positive statement than detractors of prenuptial agreements believe.