Prescription: Prenup

Prenuptial agreements may soon have the weight of an enforceable contract if Parliament adopts the recently published recommendations of the Law Commission in their Report on Matrimonial Property, Needs and Arrangements. The effect of this will be to pour statutory cement on the foundations already laid by the Courts in a number of landmark cases. Once void on public policy grounds for fear they would encourage separation or divorce, prenuptial agreements have gained increasing prominence in recent years as society evolves and the English Courts have attempted to keep pace.

In Crossley v Crossley [2007] EWCA Civ 1491, the parties (each worth several millions and for whom it was not their first marriage) entered into a prenuptial agreement which provided that they each keep their own assets and claim nothing from each other in the event of their divorce. On the breakdown of their marriage, the wife asked the Court to ignore the prenuptial agreement but the court held