Pre-nuptial agreements on the up, say divorce lawyers

Please Login or Register

by: aregan
Total views: 61
Word Count: 478

Pre-nuptial agreements (or Pre-nups), which are not legally binding in the UK courts, have been the subject of considerable controversy; but recently got the stamp of approval from a Court of Appeal judge who suggested that it may be time to make them legally binding.

Recently, a multi-million pound divorce battle was due to rule on the validity of a pre-nuptial agreement but the case settled instead with Susan Crossley dropping her claim on her husband’s Ł45 million fortune.

Crossley and property developer Stuart Crossley had married in January 2006 after signing a pre-nup. When they separated, she claimed that the contract was invalid as he had failed to tell her of ‘tens of millions’ more in offshore accounts.

Divorce lawyers had been awaiting the court outcome as it would have clarified the position of pre-nups following the earlier hearing last December when Lord Justice Thorpe described her case as a paradigm case for pre-nups.

He said at the time: “If ever there was to be a paradigm case in which the courts will look to the pre-nuptial agreements as not simply one of the peripheral factors of the case but a number of magnetic importance it seems to me that this is such a case.”

One divorce lawyer is predicting that the case will further the pressure for pre-nuptials to have legal standing. They are recognised in other parts of Europe, which adds to the growing calls for a change in the law in England.

A survey carried out recently reported that family lawyers saw a 13 per cent increase in pre-nups with two in three lawyers seeing their level of pre-nuptial advisory work increase in the last year.

The report from Grant Thornton also honed in on civil partnerships with one third of the lawyers surveyed having advised on pre-civil partnership agreements during 2006.

According to Andrea McLaren, head of matrimonial at the accountancy firm, couples entering into civil partnerships appear to be preparing for a more certain financial future (in case of their relationship failing) at greater rates than their married counterparts.

Divorce lawyers surveyed in the report saw one in three calling for pre-nups to be legally binding whilst 60 per cent saying they should simply carry more weight with the courts.

Costs also play a factor as the increasing price of divorce puts the impetus on the government to come up with solutions to make the divorce proceedings quicker and cheaper. As well as pre-nups, collaborative law is seen as another solution for making divorce simpler and less costly. However only one in three lawyers who responded to the survey were trained as collaborative lawyers whilst 20 per cent either did not support collaborative law or were undecided.

Whilst there may be disagreements over the shape of divorce proceedings, most divorce lawyers agree that change is necessary and sooner rather than later.