Prenuptial Agreements

We want a pre-nup!

A prenuptial agreement is an arrangement made by two parties before entering a marriage. The purpose is to set out how the assets will be distributed in the event of a divorce. Plus, it will set out how the matters relating to the children’s care and upbringing.

Often, drawing up a prenuptial agreement is used to both protect wealth and setting out an exit strategy should the marriage be dissolved. They are usually held by high-net-worth individuals looking to protect and retain their assets and business.

Although not directly enforceable under Singapore law, the court will consider prenuptial agreements as evidence of parties’ intentions before they got married. Perhaps of more importance would be that a prenuptial agreement is also evidence to each other of their intentions.

The Singapore court will divide the assets and make provisions for the children according to how they judge the assets should be divided. This is why it is crucial that the agreement is drawn up by a solicitor with considerable knowledge of this area of law, so the document is legally compliant and more likely to be interpreted correctly by the court.

Prenuptial agreement advantages include:

• Helping to protect your assets in the event of a divorce;
• Protecting you from being liable for your partner’s debt after your divorce is finalised;
• Potentially saving future costs of a contested divorce because you have an agreement in place, thus speeding up the divorce proceedings;
• Protecting your children’s future assets from the marriage.

Our lawyers will be able to advise you on why and how you may wish to discuss a prenuptial agreement before a marriage.