More wealthy couples are signing pre-nuptial agreements before walking up the aisle, according to a survey of matrimonial solicitors.

 

Demand has escalated in the past year amidst increasing calls to make pre-nups legally binding as in America.  

 

A court case last December gave pre-nups a boost when the Court of Appeal upheld an agreement signed by multi-millionaire property developer Stuart Crossley and his wife Susan Sangster.

Sangster had claimed the pre-nup was invalid alleging that her husband had not made full disclosure of assets held in offshore accounts. However, the court upheld the validity of the signed agreement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 The research also found that collaborative law enjoyed massive support amongst lawyers although under half of those had undergone specialist training.

 

Civil partnership agreements have also become popular, with four out of five divorce lawyers seeing an increase, compared with 33 per cent in 2006.

 

The research was carried out by Grant Thornton who interviewed 100 leading family lawyers.