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The exercise of discretion where a pre-nuptial agreement is upheld
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Family analysis: In KA v MA (Pre-nuptial Agreement - Needs) [2018] EWHC 499 (Fam) the Family Division upheld a pre-nuptial agreement where the wife had argued that she had been subject to duress but made a needs-based award of £2.95m in excess of the sum provided for in the agreement. Georgina Hamblin director and Mia Harrison associate at Vardags comment on the case.
What are the practical implications of this case?
The decision in
KA v MA (Pre-nuptial Agreement - Needs) follows a line of case law that firms up the existing law on pre-nuptial agreements following the landmark decision in
Radmacher (Formerly Granatino) v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42
[2010] 2 FLR 1900.
The decision reinforces the principles that:
- a pre-nuptial agreement freely and fairly entered into with the benefit of legal advice and financial disclosure and which brings about a fair outcome on divorce will be upheld;
- there will only be a departure from the terms of that agreement when needs require it; and
- those needs are being less and less generously interpreted as the...
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