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Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements

Almost nobody enjoys raising this subject. It can feel like planning for failure, or like saying something you can’t take back about how much you trust the person you’re marrying.

However, in practice, most couples find it’s the opposite. It’s a conversation about money, had calmly and in advance, rather than in the middle of a crisis years later. Plenty of people come away from it feeling clearer, and closer, than when they started.

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How we can help with Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements.

Drafting an agreement

Setting out clearly what you’ve both agreed, in terms that hold up if they’re ever needed.

Reviewing one you’ve been asked to sign

Independent advice on what an agreement actually means for you before you commit to it.

Postnuptial agreements

The same clarity, arranged after the wedding rather than before it.

Working alongside your other advisers

Joining up with accountants, financial advisers and our private client team where a business, farm or trust is involved.

Get in touch Family Law FAQs

Before the wedding, or after it.

An agreement made before the wedding is a prenuptial agreement; one made afterwards is a postnuptial agreement, and it does much the same job. Both set out what you’ve agreed would happen to your property, savings and other assets if the marriage were to end. They’ve become far more common, particularly for second marriages, where there are children from an earlier relationship, or where inherited money, a business or a farm is involved.

Where we can help

Drafting an agreement

Setting out clearly what you’ve both agreed, in terms that hold up if they’re ever needed.

Reviewing one you’ve been asked to sign

Independent advice on what an agreement actually means for you before you commit to it.

Postnuptial agreements

The same clarity, arranged after the wedding rather than before it.

Working alongside your other advisers

Joining up with accountants, financial advisers and our private client team where a business, farm or trust is involved.

Properly made, and they carry real weight.

There’s one point worth understanding: these agreements aren’t strictly binding in England and Wales; a court retains the final say. What’s changed is that the courts now give a properly made agreement real weight, and will usually uphold it.

“Properly made” means specific things: you’ve both been open about your finances, you’ve each taken your own independent legal advice, neither of you was pressured, it was signed in good time before the wedding rather than in the last few days, and the terms are fair enough to meet both of your needs. An agreement that skips those steps is worth very little.

We can only act for one of you.

Because each of you needs your own independent advice, we can only act for one of you, but we can suggest where your partner might go for constructive advice.

What we’re aiming for.

An agreement that reflects what you’ve genuinely agreed between you, rather than one that leaves someone feeling cornered. Usually that means a fairly practical conversation about what each of you is bringing, what you’d want protected and what feels fair.

If you’d like to talk it through, get in touch and we’ll explain how it works with no obligation.