Postnuptial agreements are essentially the same as Prenuptial agreements apart from the fact that they are entered into after marriage or civil partnership rather than before. Postnups set out the assets of one spouse and another (or civil partners), and state which of these are shared and split equally in the event of divorce, separation or death, and which are individual assets to be retained in whole by the individual or their relatives.
Some benefits of postnups include:
-
providing extra peace of mind and certainty about financial futures in case the relationship breaks down
-
serving as a record of the assets which have been brought into the marriage by each spouse or civil partner
-
if there are children from previous marriages, a postnuptial agreement can help to protect their inheritance
-
high net worth married couples who move to the UK may want to avoid having their finances determined by English courts (which are considered to be favourable to the non-wealth-creating spouse) in the event of divorce