Couples' pre-nuptial agreements to be made legally binding

Pre-nuptial agreements could soon be legally binding in Britain.

The divorce system has previously resisted allowing the contracts  -  popular in the U.S. among celebrities and the super-rich  -  although judges can take them into account during divorce proceedings.

But senior judges and lawyers say the system should be modernised and the contracts should receive legal recognition.

Experts say it could spell an end to costly legal battles such as the recent £10million divorce of Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.

The former Beatle is to pay £24million to his second wife after he turned down a request for a pre-nuptial agreement on the grounds that it was 'unromantic'.

But now the Law Commission is drawing up plans to bring the legal system in England and Wales in line with other countries.

Sir Terence Etherton, a high court judge and the commission's chairman, said: 'There is a recognition that the division of assets is an issue of considerable social importance, and there is wide dissatisfaction with the current law. But we recognise that the issue is increasingly politicised and controversial.

'We are lagging behind Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Scotland. There will be legislation because we are clearly far behind other countries.'

A project will examine how prenuptial agreements made before a marriage or civil partnership could be enforced after the end of the relationship.

It will study similar agreements and methods used in countries.

The commission hopes to produce a draft Bill on the issue by 2012. It will also consider whether agreements made after a marriage should be enforced in the courts.

In a case last year where a wife had an affair, her husband asked her to sign such an agreement as a condition of a reconciliation.

The judge said post-marital agreements could be enforced, but refused to uphold this particular one because the wife had been put under duress.

A survey, carried out by accountants Grant Thornton, found the proportion of lawyers who believe pre-nuptial agreements should be legally binding has risen from 37 to 56 per cent.

PRE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENTS

1. The status of pre-nup agreements was given a boost in December when the Court of Appeal upheld a pre-nup agreement signed by multi-millionaire property developer Stuart Crossley and four-times-married Susan Sangster. When the marriage failed after just 14 months, Mrs Sangster claimed the pre-nup was invalid because her husband had failed to disclose tens of millions of pounds in offshore accounts. Her argument was dismissed by the court.
2. Welsh-born actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, 38 made former sex addict Michael Douglas, 63, sign a rigorous pre-nup before they married in 2000. In the event of their splitting up, it would give her £1million for every year they had been together plus £3million for every woman with whom he had been unfaithful to his wife.
3. Steven Spielberg, who paid around £80million in today's money to his first wife, actress Amy Irving, when they divorced in 1989. She won the settlement after successfully contesting their pre-nup agreement because she had no legal representation when the couple scribbled it out on a restaurant napkin.
4. Actors Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are said to have agreed a £22million pre-nup agreement. An £8million trust fund was set up for the 29-year-old actress and the couple's two-year-old daughter Suri with an additional £14million to be paid out if they divorced.