No pre-nup for Harry and Meghan

It has recently been reported in the media that Harry has refused to enter in to a pre-nuptial agreement (pre-nup) with his fiancée, Meghan Markle before their May wedding.

It’s not usually the tradition for the Royals to sign up to prenuptial agreements despite the fact financially they potentially have a lot at stake. You usually read about high profile celebrity engagements where prenuptial agreements are more the norm, especially in America where they are 100% legally binding. In England and Wales, they are not 100% legally binding but if a certain procedure is followed when the agreement is entered in to, it can later be relied upon by a Judge if the marriage breaks down and you are dealing with the division of the finances.

A prenuptial agreement can be akin to an insurance policy. It protects you in the unfortunate event your marriage breaks down as it will already set out how the finances will be dealt with at that point in time. Therefore in theory it should prevent a potentially acrimonious and long-drawn out divorce if both parties already know how the finances are going to be divided.

It is vital that legal advice is sought from an experienced family law specialist in relation to pre-nuptial agreements. They can be used in a number of scenarios such as wanting to protect an inherited family business, wanting to protect assets received from a previous divorce or generally just to protect high net worth assets that you are bringing in to a marriage.

Maguire Family Law have a highly recommended team of lawyers that are experienced in dealing with pre-nuptial agreements so for further advice please contact the team by email: kirsten.tomlinson@family-law.co.uk or by using any one of the following numbers:-

Wilmslow                  01625 544650

Knutsford                  01565 648228

London                      0207 9474219

Manchester               0161 8048441