According to new research around one in five couples married in the past two decades have some form of a prenuptial agreement in place.
A prenuptial agreement is a contract entered into by a couple before a marriage or civil partnership setting out how finances and assets will be divided following the breakdown of the relationship.
The research from the Marriage Foundation involved a survey which asked more than 2,000 adults who were married since the year 2000 or had been, whether they had this form of legal agreement in place or knew someone who had.
They found that use of the agreements was surprisingly common, with 20 per cent of couples stating that they or someone they knew had a prenuptial agreement in place. A significant increase on the 1.5 per cent of couples who were married in the 1970s, five per cent in the 1980s and eight per cent in the 1990s.
It shows that these agreements are becoming more and more popular with many couples, especially those with substantial pre-marriage assets and those embarking on second marriages.
The survey also highlighted a concentration of top managers and senior executives who had used or knew of, pre-nuptial agreements.
More than four in 10 (44 per cent) of those in the higher managerial, administrative or professional category said “yes” compared with 18 per cent for the other four employment groups, including mid-level managers, skilled and semi-skilled workers.
Foundation research director Harry Benson said: “This survey, a world first, has delivered some truly surprising results ‑ chief among these is the much wider use of agreements than any prediction or claim. At the levels suggested by the data, they are no longer a legal curiosity or quirk associated with the mega-rich.
“They appear to be becoming an integral part of getting married for large numbers of couples, particularly for high earners and those with substantial assets.”
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