Could Divorce Destroy Your Business?

6 Feb 2008 09:00 Africa/Lagos


Could Divorce Destroy Your Business?

LONDON, February 6/PRNewswire/ --

2008 will be the "Year of the Postnup", according to family law specialists at online law firm, Agreements.co.uk, following a string of cases indicating judicial support for private agreements regulating finances within marriage. This January, Lord Justice Thorpe ruled that couples who try to back out of private financial agreements are now stuck with them unless they can show good cause why they should not be followed.


Like prenups, post-nuptial agreements deal with the difficult issue of how to divide money and property if a marriage goes sour, but are taken out during marriage rather than before. However postnups are subject to particular judicial scrutiny as to motive - spouses making threats if not signed, inducements if signed, those taking unfair advantage or trying to divorce on the cheap need not apply.


With the divorce courts' starting point now being an equal split - a worrying prospect for ex-Beatle, Sir Paul McCartney, who stands to lose a fortune if his divorce goes to trial - lawyers are reporting an unprecedented demand from couples taking out both prenups and postnups to soften the financial impact of divorce.


Postnups are even insisted upon by some hedge fund managers who now refuse to take on new partners until they sign one barring their spouses from making any claims on the fund.


Business is rife with risk - whether from competition, market fluctuations or plain bad luck. But what is often overlooked is the effect divorce has on a successful business. Usually funding a divorce settlement necessitates the sale of some or all of a business to accommodate the 50/50 share of overall assets that the courts now impose within divorce.


So could your business be wiped out by divorce? Statistically, in the UK, you are more likely to divorce than to stay married for life. So the bad news for any divorcing entrepreneurs is that your spouse may be entitled to half or more of the value of your business - irrespective of whether it was yours before marriage.


However there are legal solutions that the courts are now following (subject to following the correct protocols). The 'prenup' (taken out before marriage) and the 'postnup' (during).


Website, postnups.co.uk, puts prospective clients through a rigorous online 'Post-nuptial Agreement Evaluation' to ascertain their motives before agreeing to draft a postnup. "The courts have spelled out what they won't accept, and unless a couple's motives tick all the right boxes, we cannot agree to act", explains Mark Andrew, their Agreements Coordinator.


So what's the cost of having a postnup? Between GBP1,500 and GBP3,000 from most family law solicitors, and GBP450.00 online at http://www.postnups.co.uk (Tel: 0800-1955500)


http://www.prenuptialagreements.co.uk


http://www.postnuptialagreements.co.uk


Source: Agreements.co.uk Limited

Mark Andrew LL.B (Hons.), Agreements.co.uk Limited, Agreements Coordinator, Direct line: +44-(0)20-7235-3180, mark.andrew@agreements.co.uk