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Fixed fee and flexible pricing on prenups, pre-registration agreements and postnups.
A prenup is a written agreement a couple can make before getting married or entering a civil partnership. It usually covers how finances will be divided if they separate in the future. Our family law solicitors can explain how prenups work and help you to put one in place.
Fixed fee prenup / postnup costs £1,200 (including VAT)
Once we have provided you with a written fixed fee quote for the agreed work on your prenup or postnup agreement, that price will not change.
Included in the fixed fee prenup / postnuptial agreement:
Not included in the fixed fee prenuptial / postnuptial agreement:
Our fixed fee prenup and postnup agreement packages are only suitable for:
The package is not available to people with assets of over £1,000,000
Just wanted to say a big thank you for turning the prenup around so quickly. We both appreciate the hard work that went in to finalising it in such a short space of time. D. F., London
A prenuptial agreement (prenup) is a written agreement couples can enter into before getting married. For people entering into a civil partnership the same type of document is called a pre-registration agreement or a pre civil partnership agreement.
A prenup or pre civil partnership agreement lets people who are planning to get married or enter a civil partnership agree what should happen if they separate in the future.
In England & Wales, prenups work by allowing you to ring-fence certain assets that you want to keep out of a future divorce settlement.
Before making your prenup, you each need to make a list of all the financial assets you own, then decide who should receive what if you separate.
Once you’ve made these decisions, you need to ask a family law solicitor to set them out in a prenuptial agreement or pre-registration agreement. You each need to take independent legal advice before signing your prenup, to ensure you have not been unduly influenced and you understand how prenups work and the implications of signing the agreement.
When it’s been signed, your prenup is officially in place. Although prenups aren't legally binding, courts in England & Wales will take them into consideration.
These are the 5 most important things to know about prenuptial agreements:
A prenuptial agreement needs to be signed at least 21 days before the wedding takes place. This will have a significant bearing on whether a court decides to uphold the prenuptial agreement if you and your partner get a divorce later on.
Prenups can take time to draft, particularly if there are any points that the couple don't initially agree on. For this reason, it's important to allow plenty of time for the prenup to be drafted, agreed upon and signed well before the wedding takes place.
If you are not married, there are two types of agreement you can enter into, a cohabitation agreement or a prenuptial agreement.
A cohabitation agreement is for couples who are living together, but don't have plans to get married or enter a civil partnership. A prenup or pre-registration agreement is for couples who are planning their marriage or civil partnership.
Find out more about cohabitation agreements.
You can only make a prenup before you've got married. If you're already married and you want to enter into an agreement with your spouse, you'll need to make a postnuptial agreement, or postnup.
A postnuptial agreement (postnup) allows people who are already married to set out what would happen if they were to separate or get divorced.
Prenuptial, postnuptial and pre-registration agreements are particularly important when people have different amounts of money and/or property or are expecting to receive an inheritance. For example, someone who has divorced before and received a property as part of a divorce settlement, may want to keep that property separate if they decided to remarry.
Prenuptial agreements are commonly called ‘prenups’ and so we’ll refer to prenups on the rest of this page to provide information which applies to prenuptial, postnuptial and pre-registration agreements.
Not under current law but recent family law and divorce cases have proved that a court can take a prenup into account when deciding how assets between a husband and wife or partners should be divided. See court upholds prenup case study.
This is the case where a prenup has been freely entered into by people who understand the full implications of what they are doing. There are exceptions though, for example where one person is under excessive pressure or can be dependent on issues such as the age or maturity of those involved.
Prenups are written to fit your personal circumstances. What to include in a prenup:
For some people, the decision to make a prenup can seem like a negative one, making a prenup should be beneficial. If the couple do get divorced in the future, their prenup can simplify financial matters during this time.
As long as each person has taken independent legal advice and fully understands the terms of the agreement, then the agreement should be fair and there shouldn't be any disadvantages of a prenup.
We will provide clear explanations so you completely understand the process.
We’ll ask you to provide all the information we need and prepare the agreement and advise you on how to complete it and get it witnessed. You and your partner will then receive an original copy.
Once we have provided you with a written quote for the agreed work, that price will not change.
The family law team at Co-op Legal Services includes specialist family solicitors, divorce solicitors and children law solicitors with Resolution accreditation and accredited experts in child abduction, co-habitation, domestic abuse, property disputes, high net worth money matters and financial advocacy.
Resolution is a national organisation of family lawyers committed to non-confrontational divorce, separation and other family problems.
As part of the Co-op Group, our values of openness, honesty, social responsibility and caring for others are core to the service we provide.
You can make a prenup or a pre-registration agreement if you are getting married or entering a civil partnership. Civil partnership and marriage both offer couples the same tax allowances, property rights, pension rights and other legal rights. There are some differences in how they are entered into or ended.
Marriage | Civil partnership |
---|---|
Marriage certificate only names the fathers | Civil partnership certificate names both parents |
Formalised by saying vows | Formalised with a document (schedule of civil partnership) |
Can be a civil or religious ceremony | No religious grounding |
Open to same sex couples since 2014 (although some religions don’t recognise same sex marriage) | Originally only available to same sex couples, but became available to mixed sex couples in 2019 |
Ended by divorce | Ended by civil partnership dissolution |
In addition, couples in a civil partnership cannot legally refer to themselves as being married.
Aside from these formalities, the day to day life of a couple in a civil partnership is likely to be much the same as it would be for a married couple.
At Co-op Legal Services, our family law solicitors can help with both prenuptial agreements and pre-registration agreements, whether you're entering into a marriage or a civil partnership.
Co-op Legal Services has over 600 staff working in different businesses with offices in Manchester, Bristol, Stratford-upon-Avon, Sheffield and London.