Only 'fools' rush into marriage before advice from a pre-marital lawyer

Pre-marital Lawyers

28/03/2007

A leading Yorkshire pre-marital lawyer is predicting that meetings with a solicitor prior to marriage could become as commonplace as those with a vicar should prenuptial agreements become enforceable.

Alison Straw head of the family team with law firm Irwin Mitchell at its offices in Queen Street, Leeds, believes legislation making prenuptial agreements binding in the UK could come in within 10 years, making the division of assets clearer should a marriage result in divorce. But, she believes the need to have legal advice before tying the knot could therefore make meetings with your solicitor as common as the marriage classes taken before tying the knot.

Alison Straw said: "Just the same as you would take classes with your vicar or religious leader before getting married, what I see as the inevitable enforcement of prenuptial agreements within the next ten years will mean that the need to see a solicitor before walking down the aisle is all the more important.

"However, I don’t believe this is a bad thing as couples will be entering into the marriage fully informed of how money and property will be split should the unfortunate happen and the couple divorce.

"Like with any other type of contract, couples will be bound by the terms of the prenuptial - except in exceptional circumstances - providing everyone had full disclosure and understanding of the terms."

Pre-nuptial solicitors

Prenuptial agreements can already be drawn up but UK courts are not currently bound to rule based on them. With the UK making more steps to align itself with the rest of the European Union - which celebrated its 50th birthday on Sunday - Mrs Straw believes that it is only a matter of time before Government take the decision to fall in line with other countries in Europe, including France, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Spain who already authorise their use.

Mrs Straw said: "Prenuptial agreements can not only save heartache and bitter rows in court over who has what amongst a couple, but on a larger scale it is in the interests of the Government as it keeps more litigation out of court. The UK is currently lagging behind a lot of our European counterparts who already have enforceable pre-nups and the balance needs to be changed so that the courts are bound, except in exceptional circumstances.

"I’ve had a number of clients from other countries who now reside in the UK who have commented that they wouldn’t have had the same kind of problems with their divorce if they had been in their home country and don’t understand why we still don’t enforce pre-nups here."

Celebrity pre-nupital agreements

Although Colleen McLoughlin recently declared that she and footballer fiancé Wayne Rooney will not be signing a prenuptial agreement, Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, ensured his divorce was granted on Russian soil where reports suggest ex-wife Irina's settlement was around £1bn. Under current legislation, if the action had been pursued through UK courts, it would have been closer to half his £11bn fortune.

Based on case evidence over the years, Mrs Straw believes many people do not want a common sharing of assets and following a divorce, a large proportion can be put off marrying again due to suffering in the outcome of the previous divorce and feeling wary about it happening again.

Providing both parties sign up to a prenuptial agreement well in advance of the wedding so no undue pressure is placed on anyone, each person has taken independent advice and they disclosed their financial position to each other, Mrs Straw believes a pre-nup would actually give the reassurance to those concerned about re-marrying.

Mrs Straw said: "If pre-nups were enforceable as I think they will be within ten years in this country, more people might be encouraged to get married, as they can help avoid future heartache and distress, helping couples to resolve more matters themselves rather than having courts impose settlements."

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