King’s College English Language Centre

King’s College English Language Centre Certificate in Academic English and Law 2012/13
Academic Assignment (Cover Sheet)
Name of Student	Romanova Maria
Name of Tutor	David Ramwell
Student Number
Assignment Title	To what extent prenuptial agreements have legal status in the UK?
Submission Date	25^th of February	Word Count

To what extent prenuptial agreements have legal status in the UK?

One of the most significant current discussions in legal and moral philosophy is extent of using prenuptial agreements under British law. The issue has grown in importance in light of recent events, when a well-known case of Radmacher and Granatino was tried. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if prenuptial agreements have adequate legal status in the UK. The main questions addressed in this paper are 1) previous and nowadays usage of prenuptial agreements in the UK; 2) examining the case; 3) comparison with the Russian situation. When a couple is only going to marry they can hardly think about consequences, which will follow divorce, therefore prenuptial agreement is an important part of marriage.

To begin with the definition of prenuptial agreement must be presented. According to legal-dictionary prenuptial agreement is ‘a written contract between two people who are about to marry, setting out the terms of possession of assets, treatment of future earnings, control of the property of each, and potential division if the marriage is later dissolved’.[1] Prenuptial agreements have not traditionally been taken into consideration under divorce law in the UK. A divorce lawyer was often asked about the possibility of making such an agreement before getting into a marriage, but the answer in almost every occasion was that ‘the jurisdiction of the divorce courts couldn't be ousted in this way and that a prenuptial agreement is hardly worth the paper it is written on.’ The main reason of this situation is the purpose of the English divorce courts: to look at all the movable and personal effects of the marriage and to dispense them in whatever way they see befitting in accordance with needs of the both partners and children.[2] But according to Bowcott’s article ‘Prenup agreement enforced under the UK law’: "… in 2010 prenuptial agreements have been recognized as enforceable under British divorce law for the first time in a Supreme Court ruling". And the reason of it was the well-known case of Redmacher and Granatino, which has set a significant precedent of applying such agreements in cases.[3] Nowadays prenuptial agreements are not legally applied in all the cases, but the situation changed and they are taking into account more often, than it was before.[4]

As it was said before the Redmacher and Granatino’s case played an important role in the concern of legal status of prenuptial agreements in the UK. The couple got married in London in 1998 in London, lived together for 8 years and had two daughters. Before entering into marriage they executed the agreement, in which it was said that ‘neither party would benefit financially if the marriage ended’. In the event of divorce in 2008 Granatino received 5.85 million pounds that amount of money he wanted to get as the result of divorce. But later on the appeal after taking into consideration that he left his work as a banker and entered Oxford university it was decided to confer him only 1 million and 2.5 fund for the house before their youngest daughter became twenty two. Brenda Long from the one law firm said: "This supreme court ruling means the judiciary has overstepped its prescribed role of interpreting law and actually created law instead”.[5] It is great step in developing of divorce law and maybe in the future prenuptial agreements will be legally applied in all cases, in which they are needed.

In comparison with the Russian situation prenuptial agreement should have stronger legal status, than they have now. The definition of prenuptial agreement in Russia is ‘a legal document, signed by both parties before marriage, stating the legal claims on each other's estate in case of divorce’.[6] Such contracts regulate only material relations and it is the main difference from another countries. In Russia application of prenuptial agreements is regulated by the eights chapter of The Family Code of the Russian Federation and is widely spread all over the country. Tat'yana Ogorodnikova's survey demonstrates, that in February 2009 7 percent of people, who was marrying concluded a prenuptial contract; the President of the federal notary association Mary Ogorodnikova said, that 320 St Petersburg’s public notaries contract only 10-20 marriages per year. But such contracts are applied in the process of divorce in all the cases. If such a contract will put one spouse into unprofitable situation, it should be recognized as invalid. In spite of the fact that church criticizes such agreements, because in church’s point of view they are the result of taking into consideration only financial side of marriage and forgetting about real values, in Russia they are legal and are applied in the process of divorce anyway. [7]

This essay has explained the central importance of prenuptial agreement in the UK. From the evidence, which were presented in this paper it can be said that prenuptial agreements should have stronger legal status in the UK. In general, taking into consideration the result, which the case of Radmacher and Granatino gave, it seems that the law may change in the nearest future and these contracts will be legalized under the UK divorce law. The current study was limited by the number of accessible sources and therefore has thrown up many questions in need of further investigation.

Reference list:

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/20/prenuptial-agreement-enforced-uk-law «Prenup agreements enforced under the UK law» Owen Bowcott 2010

2. http://glosbe.com/en/ru/prenuptial%20agreement

3. http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/prenuptial+agreement

4. http://www.memoid.ru/node/Brachnyj_kontrakt_v_sovremennoj_Rossii «Prenuptial agreement in the modern Russia» accessed on 21 of February

5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8133631.stm «Green light for prenuptial agreements?» Anne Kay 2009

6. http://www.terry.co.uk/pre-nuptial.html «Prenuptial agreements in UK devorce law» Divorce specialists accessed on 20th of February

[1] http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/prenuptial+agreement

[2] http://www.terry.co.uk/pre-nuptial.html «Prenuptial agreements in UK devorce law» Divorce specialists accessed on 20th of February

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/20/prenuptial-agreement-enforced-uk-law «Prenup agreements enforced under the UK law» Owen Bowcott 2010

[4] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8133631.stm «Green light for prenuptial agreements?» Anne Kay 2009

[5] http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/20/prenuptial-agreement-enforced-uk-law «Prenup agreements enforced under the UK law» Owen Bowcott 2010

[6] http://glosbe.com/en/ru/prenuptial%20agreement

[7] http://www.memoid.ru/node/Brachnyj_kontrakt_v_sovremennoj_Rossii «Prenuptial agreement in the modern Russia» accessed on 21 of February

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