Proposals for Enforceable Pre-nups in the U.K.

The Ministry of Justice has asked the Law Commission to make proposals for a reform of British law to enforce pre-nups. The reform will allow prenuptial contracts to be fully enforceable for the first time in Britain’s history. The law will also make post-nuptial contracts enforceable.

Many speculate that the new law will cause pre-nups to become common occurrences among U.K. couples, and that it may encourage divorce. However, after witnessing a number of court battles regarding pre-nups, the Ministry decided that Britain needed this new law. One such court battle was that of heiress Katrin Radmacher, which I previously blogged about here.

Any pre-nup law would likely permit persons in a divorce to keep assets owned before the marriage and assets obtained without the other spouse’s help. Post-nup rules will likely prevent situations where one spouse experiences a windfall that he or she did not help to obtain. The law will also likely create safeguards, protecting a spouse from unwittingly signing away his or her rights and ensuring recognition of a non-working spouse’s contribution.

See Martin Bentham, Pre-nup Deals to get Force of Law as Stars’ Battles Pave Way for Binding Contracts, London Evening Standard, Jan. 4, 2011.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.