Karen Elliott – Senior Consultant Chartered Legal Executive – Divorce/ Finance Specialist

Post-nuptial Agreements

A post-nuptial agreement is essentially the same as a pre-nuptial agreement except it is an agreement that is entered into after a wedding or civil partnership. (nuptial means wedding).

The agreement says what the couple intend to happen to their money and property if the marriage or civil partnership were to end.

Sometimes the agreement could be entered into shortly after the marriage or civil partnership. This might be because the couple thought about having an agreement quite late in the day and decided not to sort out its terms until after the wedding or civil partnership had taken place.

These agreements can also be made when a couple has separated. In that context the post-nuptial agreement would also be known as a separation agreement.

There is a long section on this website about  pre-nuptial agreements . The formalities for preparing a good post-nuptial agreement are the same as with preparing a good pre-nuptial agreement.

In other words – the contents need to be fair and it needs to be demonstrated that both of the couple have entered into the agreement with their eyes open and full knowledge. There should therefore be financial disclosure and each of the couple should take independent legal advice.