The long awaited judgment in the Radmacher appeal was finally delivered by the Supreme Court on 20 October 2010, upholding the 2009 Court of Appeal decision that the pre-nuptial agreement entered into by heiress Katrin Radmacher and her husband Nicolas Granatino is binding on the husband.  This decision ought to give more confidence to those considering entering into pre-nuptial agreements.

Until this Supreme Court case, having a pre-nuptial agreement in place was just one of many factors the court took in consideration when deciding what financial settlement ought to be given to the financially poorer party.  Now by an 8 to 1 majority the Supreme Court has reversed this rule and has held that:

            “the court should give effect to a nuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications unless in the circumstances prevailing it would not be fair to hold the parties to their agreement”.

This means that there will now be a presumption that pre-nuptial agreements will be binding unless it can be shown that they would not be fair to the parties on divorce.  The sort of things which would make a nuptial agreement unfair would be where the reasonable requirements of any children of the family were not properly met by the terms of the pre-nuptial agreement or where one party to the marriage would be left completely destitute under the terms of the agreement.

However, arguments will still no doubt be made that a pre-nuptial agreement was not “freely entered into” or that one party did not have “full appreciation of the implications of the agreement” which is where lawyers come in.  For current best practice dictates that the couple should each take independent legal advice and that full financial disclosure is made by them both before signing a pre-nuptial agreement to ensure that the agreement is as fair as possible.  

If you are about to be married or are considering remarriage or have inherited wealth or are likely to inherit wealth, it would be sensible to take advice from our family law department on pre-nuptial agreements.  Please contact Franklin Price (0207 339 7016 or frp@jgrlaw.co.uk) or Sarah Ingram (0207 339 7275 or sci@jgrlaw.co.uk) to arrange an initial meeting which will be without charge.