Marital/civil partnership agreements

Pre-nuptial or pre-registration agreements

A pre-nuptial (or pre-registration) agreement is a contract between the parties to an intended marriage or civil partnership that seeks to regulate their affairs in the event that their relationship ends. For the majority, financial arrangements will be the main focus of such agreements, but the parties may also agree in what jurisdiction their divorce or dissolution proceedings will take place.

Pre-nuptial agreements are not formally binding in England and Wales. They have been regarded by the court as persuasive and even 'decisive'; a pre-nuptial agreement may influence the outcome of an application for a financial remedy, either as part of all the circumstances of the case that the court has a duty to consider, or as conduct it would be inequitable to disregard. Following the Supreme Court decision in Radmacher (formerly Granatino) v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, [2010] 2 FLR 1900, any advice will need to take into account the significant weight given to the pre-nuptial agreement in that case.

Factors that will be taken into account by the court as to whether such an agreement may be upheld include:

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