With an impending Royal wedding all set for 2011 the future
impact of pre-nuptial agreements has once again surfaced across the
country.
The discussions about the dress, the venue and the guest list
are already well under way and many are now wondering whether
Prince William and Kate Middleton will enter into a pre-nuptial
agreement.
This agreement is entered into by a couple before they get
married setting out what would happen should the marriage end and
has traditionally been a favourite for the Hollywood stars - but
they are now appealing to people from all walks of life, according
to a Shropshire solicitor.
A recent Supreme Court decision gave what appeared to be the
green light for future pre-nuptial agreements, opening legal doors
for everybody - including the Prince and his bride-to-be.
The long awaited decision in the case of Radmacher was delivered
by the Supreme Court on October 20, 2010.
Nicolas Granatino, former husband of German heiress Katrin
Radmacher, took the case to the court after appeal judges slashed
his divorce settlement from more than £5 million to £1
million.
Appeal judges had ruled that "decisive weight" should be given
to the pre-nuptial agreement signed in Germany before he married
that he would make no claims on Katrin Radmacher's fortune and the
case was seen by lawyers as the ultimate test of whether the
agreements were applicable in English law.
The justices dismissed the ex-husband's appeal although Lord
Phillips, president of the Supreme Court, said the courts would
still have the discretion to waive any pre-nup or post-nup
agreement, especially when it was unfair to any children of the
marriage.
The Law Commission is due to report in 2012 with recommendations
which may well include a change in the law to make such agreements
enforceable. In the meantime, whilst such agreements will remain
unromantic, the courts will take more notice of them and in those
circumstances it is probably more sensible now to consider such an
agreement than it has been before.
Colin Davies, head of the Linder Myers LLP family department,
based in Shrewsbury and Manchester, said: "Prior to this decision,
we had been receiving an increased number of enquiries regarding
pre nuptial agreements both at our Shrewsbury and Manchester
offices and had actually completed quite a number.
"Since the decision, even though only a few weeks ago, we have
seen even more interest from couples in all walks of life and in
all financial circumstances."