Clients protecting their future

Our client and her partner, who were both in their early fifties and had been married before, had decided to get married.

They both had children from previous relationships and had provided for them in their Wills.

They both brought assets into the relationship, although our client was wealthier than her partner.

They were concerned that, if their marriage ended in divorce, they did not want the provisions that they had made for their children to be affected.

To this end, they wanted to ‘ring fence’ the assets that each of them had brought into the marriage.

We advised our client that she should enter into a pre-nuptial agreement with her partner. This agreement had to ensure that their objectives were fulfilled, whilst at the same time making sure that any changes that they could foresee in the future, which could undermine the agreement, were dealt with.

Our client and her partner both fully disclosed their assets to each other and signed the agreement well in advance of the wedding date, without pressure. They each received separate, independent legal advice regarding the agreement.

It is these factors which help to ensure that a prenuptial agreement stands the best chance of being enforced in the future, should the need arise. A well drafted pre-nuptial agreement may have a significant impact upon, or could even fully determine, what a financial settlement will look like upon divorce.