Wayne: Sign a Pre-Nup - Be an even bigger inspiration to the crowd

He’s missed out on the Euros but the £ signs should be foremost in the mind of Wayne Rooney when he and Coleen McLoughlin marry this summer.

Prenuptial marriage agreements are not necessarily the preserve of superstars and footballers – it may be a big bucks signing of sorts for Wayne, but it could also be a massive deal for virtually anybody in the 75,000 crowd at Old Trafford.

“Wayne and Coleen are marrying because England are not playing in Euro 2008, and while I’m sure there’s all sorts of glitzy and glamorous items on the wedding action plan, there should be one very basic item at the very top: that prenuptial agreement,” said Sandra Sinclair of Cheshire law firm, SAS Daniels, which has offices in Stockport, Macclesfield, Chester, Congleton and Bramhall.

“But amongst every football crowd – a pretty broad cross section of society is represented – there will be a lot of people planning to get married or heading for a divorce: that could be the well-heeled in the corporate boxes, or, literally, the man in the crowd.

“Prenuptial agreements have long been perceived as a pre-marital contract for the filthy rich and often famous such as footballers or rock stars, but they are relevant to anybody and everybody likely to have assets of dependents.

“There are all kinds of reasons for deciding on a prenuptial agreement – the most common being that one party is well-off or has lots of assets that they wish to protect in the event of divorce.

“But more and more it’s the case that as society changes and people marry increasingly for a second or more times, there are assets accumulated along the way – and children to take into consideration, warranting the drawing up of a prenup.

“Second-time-rounders in their forties or fifties, who by that time may have children from previous relationships, may have accumulated moderate wealth and assets and want to provide fully for those children and protect those assets – in such cases a prenuptial agreement will help.”

As it stands currently, prenuptial agreements are not enforceable in the English Courts – so why bother?

“The English system is beginning to take more notice of prenuptial agreements, and where one has been entered into fairly – that is to say one party hasn’t been under duress to sign it and the terms are fair to both parties as the marriage has progressed – increasingly judges want to know why the terms of the agreement shouldn’t be followed in the event of divorce where both parties have taken separate legal advice before entering into it,” said Sandra.

“If it’s deemed unfair or there are new circumstances to take into account since it was drawn up – perhaps one party has fallen ill and is unable to work for example – the Court ultimately retains the jurisdiction to decide how the assets should be divided.

“So when booking your wedding this summer, book the church, the caterers, the flowers and don’t forget to book the prenup.”

SAS Daniels has offices in Stockport, Macclesfield, Chester, Congleton and Bramhall.

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Further information:
Iain Macauley or Megan Codling
07788 978800 / 07795 848586
im@pressrelations.co.uk / mc@pressrelations.co.uk / www.sasdaniels.co.uk

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Further information: Iain Macauley or Megan Codling 07788 978800 / 07795 848586 im@pressrelations.co.uk / mc@pressrelations.co.uk / www.sasdaniels.co.uk