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 8 – Will spousal maintenance be paid if you split up?

Where there is an inequality in income between you, it may be appropriate to decide whether any maintenance will be paid to your spouse if the marriage breaks down. It may be your intention that one person stays at home during the marriage, maybe to raise a family, while the other goes out to work. Or maintenance may be just a way to redress the balance between you for unpaid contributions towards building up a business.

Your prenuptial agreement cannot be used to decide maintenance for children.

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.