Prenuptial Agreement Lawyers Examine the Latest Prenup Statistics

In this blog, prenuptial agreement solicitor Robin Charrot looks at the statistics on prenuptial agreements and explains why you should consider signing a prenup or postnuptial agreement.

For prenuptial agreement advice call our team of specialist family lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.

Prenup statistics

The research from Handelsbanken Wealth & Asset Management highlights that:

• Only one in ten couples have a prenuptial agreement
• Younger married couples are more likely to sign a prenup before marriage
• Nearly a third of those interviewed didn’t sign a prenup because they didn’t think they would get divorced

Prenup research and the relevance of age

The Handelsbanken research reveals how important age is to the decision to sign a relationship agreement.

Although 89% of couples don’t have a prenup, the statistics are very different when broken down into age groups:

• 40% of couples aged 18-34 have a prenup
• 11% of couples aged 35-54 have a prenup
• 1% of couples over 55 have a prenup

What’s concerning to prenuptial agreement lawyers is that according to 2021 statistics from the Office of National Statistics, the average duration of a marriage at divorce was 12.3 years for opposite-sex divorces in 2021.

Handelsbanken research shows that, worryingly, those entering second or third marriages or getting married for the first time later in life are less likely to sign a prenup. While anyone getting married should consider signing a prenup, it is especially sensible to do so if you have pre-marriage acquired assets, a prior divorce financial settlement, or children from a previous relationship.

Research on why couples don’t sign prenups

Prenuptial agreement solicitors are always interested in discovering why people don’t want the safeguards a relationship agreement provides. The research shows:

• 10% hadn’t heard about prenups
• 15% thought they would be able to sort things out between themselves
• 16% were not worried about splitting up and dividing assets
• 17% thought assets would be split equally
• 32% thought they would not split up so a prenup was unnecessary

The responses reveal that many of those interviewed do not see a prenup in the same way as say life or critical illness policies; a safeguard that you hopefully won’t need but comforting to know it is there if you need it.

Why you need a prenuptial agreement

Let’s go through the reasons why people don’t sign prenups and explain why they can be helpful:

1. No need, we agree – when you are getting married and in love you don’t need a prenup. However, at the time of your separation or divorce, when you are likely to have far more in property equity, pensions and other assets, emotions and hurt may cloud your judgment or that of your husband or wife
2. We are not worried – you may not be worried about having a prenup but if you do split up you may regret not signing one. A prenup can take away a lot of the worry and stress at the time of your separation because you are less likely to end up in expensive and lengthy court proceedings over how your assets should be split and if spousal maintenance should be paid
3. No need, it’s an equal split – that may be accurate at the time of your marriage but fast forward 5, 10, 15 or 20 years and it could be a different story. For example, you may need spousal maintenance if you have stayed at home to look after children or through ill health or you may want an unequal split if you inherited money during the marriage
4. We won’t split up – according to ONS statistics, nearly half of marriages end in divorce. Saying you don’t need a prenup because you won’t split up is a bit like saying you don’t need critical illness coverage or a Lasting Power of Attorney because you don’t think you will fall ill. Hopefully, you are right to be positive but insurance, LPAs and prenups all give peace of mind

The status of prenups in divorce proceedings

Our prenuptial agreement lawyers had thought research would show that people would think a prenup wasn’t worth it as it isn’t legally binding but that did not come out as a major reason not to sign an agreement. It’s true that under current English family law, a prenuptial agreement isn’t automatically legally binding on a husband and wife at the time of any future divorce proceedings but the agreement will carry significant (potentially full weight) if safeguards are met.
The safeguards are:

• Fairness – the terms of the agreement are fair to both of you – that’s why you need a prenup solicitor to advise you on the contents
• Timing -the agreement is signed a few weeks before the marriage
• Understanding – you both understood what you were signing up for and there was no coercion
• Knowledge– you both provided financial disclosure to help you decide if the agreement was fair
• Advice – you both took independent advice from family law solicitors

If you didn’t sign a prenup before your marriage you can remedy that now by signing a postnuptial or after marriage agreement. Our relationship agreement lawyers will carefully advise you on the type of agreement you need and the options for what to include in it. We will then provide sensitive advice to help you finalise and sign off on your agreement.

For prenuptial or postnuptial agreement advice call our team of specialist family lawyers or complete our online enquiry form.