BONALLACK & BISHOP – SOLICITORS IN SALISBURY –  Press release 20th October 2010

A step nearer to enforceable UK Prenuptial Agreements

The Supreme Court has taken a significant step nearer to enforcing prenuptial agreements, according to Colin Carnegy, Family Law Solicitor at Salisbury Lawyers Bonallack and Bishop.

Colin commented, “We have found that an increasing number of people look to protect the assets they owned before they even met their future wife or husband. A prenuptial agreement is designed to achieve this – although British courts have previously been reluctant to pay too much attention to these agreements. The judges in the case of German heiress Karen Radmacher decided that ‘decisive weight’ should be given to her prenuptial agreement – which allowed her to keep almost all of her estimated £100m fortune and under which the courts reduced her husband’s divorce settlement from over £5m down to £1m.

In the last couple of years, we have advised a significant number of clients throughout the country, who find us on our dedicated prenuptial agreement website, on prenups. I suspect that the regular flow of inquiries we have experienced is now likely to increase substantially following the Radmacher case. It would seem probable that following this clarification, prenuptial agreements are now much more likely to be taken into account by British courts in dealing with finances after divorce – we seem to have finally caught up with the rest of Europe in regard to this aspect of family law.”

For more information or advice on a UK Prenup, contact Colin on and his team specialist family lawyers on 01722 422300 or via email.