Prenuptial disagreements - A Decisive Factor?
24th March 2010 by: Deborah Jeff
A wealthy heiress is facing a potentially expensive prenuptial battle with her former husband.
Katrin Radmacher, a German heiress with a fortune of approximately £100 million has taken her case to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent her ex husband staking a claim against her fortune. Judges have examined whether divorcing couples in England and Wales should be bound by pre-marital agreements regulating how to divide their assets.
Nicolas Granatino, a French citizen, is challenging his £1 million divorce settlement claiming he did not know the full extent of his wife’s wealth when he signed the agreement. He now claims he will suffer personal hardship if he cannot claim a larger share.
Granatino is a researcher on £30,000 a year, whilst his former wife is heiress to a paper company and said to be one of the richest women in Europe. The couple resided in London and have two children together.
The case has reached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal cut Mr Granatino’s original divorce settlement from more than £5 million to £1 million, saying “decisive weight” should be given to the prenuptial contract.
Nicholas Mostyn, QC, for Granatino, said that if last year’s Court of Appeal ruling was upheld and Mr Granatino was bound by his prenuptial agreement, then in future it would mean that the overwhelming majority of prenuptial contracts would be upheld unless there was real hardship. The Court of Appeal judges have been criticised for not applying existing case law and for the prenup to be just one of the factors the Court has to take into account..
Granatino’s case is based on the original prenuptial agreement being unfair because he had no separate legal advice and his wife did not fully disclose her financial situation.
The case concluded yesterday with judgment reserved to a later date. The Court of Appeal decision last year provided welcome clarity of just how much weight should be given to prenuptial agreements, decising that the starting point should be "Why should we depart from the agreement?". Many have anticipated there will come a time when prenuptial agreements are binding but a decision of the Supreme Court in Mr Granatino's favour will almost certainly cause us to reconsider that opinion.
Katrin Radmacher, a German heiress with a fortune of approximately £100 million has taken her case to the Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent her ex husband staking a claim against her fortune. Judges have examined whether divorcing couples in England and Wales should be bound by pre-marital agreements regulating how to divide their assets.
Nicolas Granatino, a French citizen, is challenging his £1 million divorce settlement claiming he did not know the full extent of his wife’s wealth when he signed the agreement. He now claims he will suffer personal hardship if he cannot claim a larger share.
Granatino is a researcher on £30,000 a year, whilst his former wife is heiress to a paper company and said to be one of the richest women in Europe. The couple resided in London and have two children together.
The case has reached the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal cut Mr Granatino’s original divorce settlement from more than £5 million to £1 million, saying “decisive weight” should be given to the prenuptial contract.
Nicholas Mostyn, QC, for Granatino, said that if last year’s Court of Appeal ruling was upheld and Mr Granatino was bound by his prenuptial agreement, then in future it would mean that the overwhelming majority of prenuptial contracts would be upheld unless there was real hardship. The Court of Appeal judges have been criticised for not applying existing case law and for the prenup to be just one of the factors the Court has to take into account..
Granatino’s case is based on the original prenuptial agreement being unfair because he had no separate legal advice and his wife did not fully disclose her financial situation.
The case concluded yesterday with judgment reserved to a later date. The Court of Appeal decision last year provided welcome clarity of just how much weight should be given to prenuptial agreements, decising that the starting point should be "Why should we depart from the agreement?". Many have anticipated there will come a time when prenuptial agreements are binding but a decision of the Supreme Court in Mr Granatino's favour will almost certainly cause us to reconsider that opinion.
Add new comment