Making a prenuptial agreement before you get married can take away some of the financial worry about what will happen to your assets and property if your marriage does not work out.

In this series of blogs, Susan Davies, head of family law at Ansons Solicitors in Lichfield and Cannock, Staffordshire, gives her top 12 tips for what to include in your prenuptial agreement:

Top tip 5 – Record your personal possessions

You may have each acquired numerous personal possessions before you got married that you may want to keep hold of if you split up. This could include cars, furniture, art, antiques, musical instruments, cd’s, books and digital assets and even your pets. You can specify how these are to be owned from the outset in the event of a divorce.

Added to this, there may be expensive wedding presents and jointly owned purchases during the course of the marriage. With a little thought from the outset you can save a lot of acrimony, and lawyers’ fees, by agreeing how these assets should be divided if the marriage does not last.

Prenuptial agreements are being increasingly recognised by the court as a good reflection of a couple’s intentions towards each other if they separate. You must both take independent legal advice, give full disclosure of your financial assets and neither of you must be under any duress before signing the agreement. The agreement must also be ‘fair’.

For further advice, please contact Susan Davies in the family law team, on 01543 267 190 or sdavies@ansonsllp.com. Ansons Solicitors has offices in Cannock and Lichfield, Staffordshire.