1.58 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Pre-nuptial agreements ruled 'legal' in Britain

Heiress wins landmark battle to cut husband's payout by £4m. (GETTY IMAGES)

Published
By Staff

American-style 'pre-nups' were effectively legalised in Britain on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ruled against the husband of a £100 million heiress.

Nicolas Granatino was trying to reverse an Appeal Court decision to slash his divorce settlement with Katrin Radmacher from more than £5million to £1million.
But the Supreme Court ruled in favour of his German-born ex-wife, in a case which was seen by lawyers as the ultimate test of whether the agreements are applicable in English law.

The court's decision will mean 'more couples will marry for love not money,' Radmacher's solicitor Simon Bruce said.
He added: "Overall we are likely to see more stability in relationships. Couples who marry with a pre-nup will want to be together and will understand their rights and responsibilities."

Granatino's barrister Nicholas Mostyn QC had told the nine justices headed by Lord Phillips at a hearing in March that the Court of Appeal ruling was not only unfair, it was impermissible because it amounted to a court legislating over pre-nuptial agreements which are not recognised in English law.

He said that when Justice Baron decided the case in the High Court in 2008, she said the prenuptial agreement signed by the parties in 1998 was 'manifestly unfair' because the husband had no separate legal advice, there was no financial disclosure by the wife and it left him with no money on divorce even if he was in serious difficulties.

The High Court judge had said the pre-nuptial agreement was void but was not irrelevant and its existence had reduced her award to the husband.

This was £4.735 million, plus money to buy a home in Germany to care for their two children, and periodical payments of £35,000 a year for each child.

Richard Todd QC, representing the heiress, told the Supreme Court Justices that under the terms of the divorce settlement, Granatino will have the use of a £2.5 million property rent-free for 15 years, meaning he would have been housed by his ex-wife for 20 years from their separation.

He will also have a holiday home near his parents in the south of France which will be returned to his former wife when their youngest child is 22.
Granatino will also have a personal income of £76,000 a year for the next 15 years and child maintenance of £70,000 a year - even though he is not the primary carer, said Todd.

He said the former husband will also get £25,000 for a car and most of his debts paid off by his ex-wife.

Granatino, 38, a French national, gave up a lucrative job in the emerging markets sector of banking in 2003 to become a £30,000-a-year biotechnology researcher at Oxford University.

He was divorced from his former wife, a German heiress to a paper company and reputed to be one of the richest women in Europe, in 2007.
They have two children, aged ten and seven, and spent most of their life together in Chelsea, west London.