header-logo header-logo

Pre-nuptial pursuit

02 October 2015 / Edward Heaton
Issue: 7670 / Categories: Features , Family
printer mail-detail
web_heaton_1

Pre-nups: the search for certainty continues, says Ed Heaton

In WW v HW [2015] EWHC 1844 (Fam), [2015] All ER (D) 167 (Jul), the parties had entered into an agreement which had provided that neither would make a claim against the other in the event of divorce and yet, by the time of the end of the hearing, they had, between them, run up costs of over £1.7m…

As the judge himself commented: “If ever there were a paradigm example of a case which demonstrates the need for more certainty in the law of financial remedies and nuptial agreements, this is surely it.”

The wife was 46 and the husband 57. The parties had met in 2000 and had entered into a pre-nuptial agreement in June 2002, at the wife’s instigation. The agreement was intended to protect the wife’s financial resources, which amounted to around £27m by the time of the hearing. They included interests in an historic stately home and a very valuable painting by a celebrated 16th century artist, and originated from the wife’s

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
back-to-top-scroll