Courts will take into account sustained coercive behaviour in deciding whether nuptial agreements are binding

In a decision that sees the third largest divorce settlement in English legal history, a wife has been awarded £230m after the court decided a post-nuptial agreement was signed without proper legal advice, financial disclosure, and under undue pressure.

The case centres on wife PN and husband SA, a serial entrepreneur who had accumulated significant wealth after listing his technology company on the Nasdaq. The couple married in 2005 with the business founded in 2012 and subsequently floated generating an estimated $1.5bn for the couple. Through a series of financial planning undertakings, including the movement of sizeable assets into trusts for the couple’s three children, a post-nuptial agreement was signed in 2021 in which it was agreed the parties would share equitably the ‘overall wealth of the parties.’ It is accepted in the case both parties had entered into the agreement freely and without coercion or undue influence; a key tenet of the Supreme Court decision in Radmacher v Granatino. The court noted there is little dispute on the content and understanding of the 2021 agreement.

The dispute arose when a second agreement, signed in 2023 post-separation, was attempted to be enforced by the husband. One of the main challenges with the 2023 agreement was the differences between its original drafting in the couples’ native language Portuguese, and the English translation. In addition, the 2023 agreement, which Justice Cobb concluded was not a ‘complete and concluded agreement’ was not a ‘manifestation’ or ‘implementation’ of the 2021 agreement, as the husband argues, Read the full article below.

https://todaysfamilylawyer.co.uk/courts-will-take-into-account-sustained-coercive-behaviour-in-deciding-whether-nuptial-agreements-are-binding/