Pre-Nuptial Agreements - A New Era (July 2009)

It has been clearly understood for a considerable time that pre-nuptial agreements are not legally binding on the parties.

However, the position has changed dramatically as a result of a recent Court of Appeal judgment in a case called Radmacher and Granatino.

In this case, the married couple had entered into a pre-nuptial agreement.  

In the earlier set of proceedings, such agreement was disregarded by the Court which made an award on the basis that it was not bound by the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement, which sought to exclude the entitlement of the parties in the event of divorce. 

In the Court of Appeal, an award was made in which the Court did indeed take notice of the pre-nuptial agreement and indicated, for the first time, that such agreements should influence the decisions of the Court.

Whilst we yet have to await the legislation with regard to the ability to enforce a pre-nuptial agreement, this Appeal Court case will clearly influence the importance of such agreements in the meantime.

In this current climate, there are therefore very persuasive reasons to encourage parties to a marriage to seriously consider entering into a pre-nuptial agreement.

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