What has happened?

During the era of COVID-19 life is full of uncertainty as a result, for many married couple’s post-nuptial agreements are becoming more important than ever. With 40% of marriages ending in divorce and many speculating this figure is set to rise due to the impact of lockdown measures, post-nuptial agreements can aid in providing some form of certainty in such unprecedented and unpredictable times.

What does this mean?

A post-nuptial agreement is, a signed agreement between married couples that regulates the finical and other consequences of a divorce. It is not a legally binding contract in England and Wales. However, post-nuptial agreements aid in the difficult process of divorce, reducing litigation fees and providing some form of asset protection against the uncertainties of finical awards made by English courts on divorce.

Post-nuptial agreements are becoming increasingly attractive for many married couples because, various forms of instability have arisen due to the current pandemic. The recession and mass redundancies have created a significant change in many couples finical standing, for this reason post nuptial agreement can bring some stability and help reflect the changes many couples are experiencing.Amendments can be made to existing post-nuptial agreements to reflect finical changes or introduced into new post-nuptials.

How does this impact the legal sector?

Courts determine to what extent post-nuptial agreements are abided by. The UK Supreme Court first recognised pre-nuptial agreements in the 2010 case of Radmacher v. Granatino the court recognised the agreement protecting Ms. Rademacher’s £106 million fortune.

To ensure adherence to post-nuptial agreements couples should review them often and if needed updated agreements to ensure continued fairness, this should be done with legal advice, to ensure the agreement has the highest level of credibility.