Prenuptial Agreements

Making Pre-nuptial Agreements Work For You

A prenuptial agreement is designed to protect your assets before you make a commitment to marry or enter into a civil partnership by setting out the terms of financial settlement should the relationship end in divorce or dissolution in the future. Complex by nature, if you want to establish a prenuptial agreement you should speak to our family solicitors first who have specialist experience together with both legal and financial backgrounds.

Once deemed only necessary for the rich and famous, prenuptial agreements are becoming essential for many individuals before committing to marriage or partnership. Tailored to your personal financial situation and circumstances, a prenuptial can protect your children from a previous relationship too by taking care of their interests in the event of a divorce.

Although pre-nuptial agreements are not currently binding on the courts and judges still have discretion over the terms of financial settlements for a divorce, often the courts will consider these agreements in their decisions and at the very least use them as a guide. However, the agreement must have been professionally drafted in the first place as the issue is so complex.

By seeking independent professional advice from our legal experts, we will ensure your prenuptial agreement considers every aspect of your current and likely future financial situation. Changes in the future need to be accounted for, including children and salary increases, as well as property and savings – and the more accurate and realistic the agreement is, the more likely the court will take it into consideration when deciding upon the division of assets.

Drawn up correctly, prenuptial agreements can help prevent lengthy court battles and remove a great deal of the emotional and financial cost of getting a divorce or dissolution.

Financial Settlements

In the emotional event that a marriage or civil partnership ends in divorce or dissolution, establishing a financial settlement that both parties are happy with is often stressful, time consuming and expensive.

If you’re seeking a divorce or your spouse is petitioning for one, you are not automatically entitled to an equal share of the assets. There are many different factors that have to be taken into consideration, including incomes, pensions and dependants. The welfare of children is of primary consideration and any settlement will ensure they and their main carer are housed and their needs are met before determining how the remaining assets are to be shared.

Our family lawyers have extensive experience of helping clients achieve a financial settlement during a divorce through negotiation, even when there have been complications and disagreements during the process. Although avoiding court proceedings isn’t always possible, we will work hard to make this process as stress-free as possible while maximising its fairness for you.

How Our Family Lawyers Can Help You

Financial settlements for divorce and dissolutions are complicated and often fraught to establish, especially if there are high value assets involved or disagreements from the parties involved. Calculating what is a fair amount of money for each party, both for now and reflecting any possible developments in the future, is extremely difficult – which is why we can help.

Our family lawyers have a financial background in addition to a strong legal education, enabling a quick understanding and accuracy when it comes to prenuptial agreements and financial settlements. Furthermore, your HLF Berry lawyer will be a top negotiator, able to mediate for the best terms or settlement on your behalf, whilst showing sensitivity and tact for this very personal subject matter.

We  have worked with multiple clients at the point of divorce or dissolution without a prenuptial agreement in place, guiding and advising them to make sure the division of assets was as fair as possible.

We can help you before you get married by using legal skills to draw up a prenuptial agreement that offers protection if you divorce or separate in the future, as well as during a divorce or separation process.

For an initial consultation with one of our expert financial settlement lawyers, contact the HLF Berry family law team. Every aspect of your particular situation will be taken into account in any legal advice we offer and action we advise you to take, ensuring you are provided with the best protection for your assets now and in the future, at the point of marriage or divorce.