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Should nuptial agreements be made available to all?
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Simon Thomas Head of the Michelmores Family TeamNuptial agreements are not defined or recognised in legislation. Their status has been determined by case law most significantly by the 2010 landmark case of
Radmacher v Granatino which ruled that appropriate weight should be given to the terms of a nuptial agreement so long as it was freely entered into by both parties and upholding the agreement would still be fair in the circumstances as they prevail at the time of separation or divorce.
As the law currently stands in England and Wales nuptial agreements whether entered into before or after marriage are not binding. However the Law Commission’s comprehensive report
Matrimonial property needs and agreements: the future of financial orders on divorce and dissolution published in March last year recommends that the government consider making nuptial agreements (referred to by the Law Commission as Qualifying Nuptial Arrangements or QNAs) legally binding. By doing so the Commission hopes to make the...
Read the full article here.
