Supreme court rules pre-nups are binding
Wednesday, 20 October 2010 12:00 AM
By politics.co.uk staff
The legal status of pre-nuptials became considerably more reliable today, after the supreme court ruled against the former husband of a German heiress.
The £6 million settlement claim by Nicolas Granatino against his former wife Katrin Radmacher saw the man insist that the 1998 pre-nup the couple signed before marriage was not valid.
Nicholas Mostyn QC insisted the document was "unenforceable".
Mr Grantino insisted that at the time of marriage he had no idea of his wife's £106 million wealth, had not had proper legal advice, and that the agreement had not been translated from German when he signed it.
It is the first time the supreme court has ruled on a pre-nup case and divorce lawyers are treating the judgement as a test case for family law. The courts have gradually treated pre-nup agreements with more and more weight over the years and today's judgement appears to confirm their reliability.
A draft bill on pre-nups is expected by 2012, with parliamentary observers expecting a new law to be in place by the time of the next general election.
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