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Execute. Marry. Execute.

05 February 2009
Issue: 7355 / Categories: Features , Divorce , Child law , Family
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Is now the time to turn your pre-nup into a post-nup? Asks Mark Irving

In the case of MacLeod v MacLeod [2008] UKPC 64, the Privy Council addressed the vexed question of the enforceability of pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements. Mr and Mrs MacLeod were married in Florida on Valentine’s Day 1994 and on the same day signed a pre-nuptial agreement.

There was a considerable difference in wealth and age between them. Mr MacLeod had amassed huge wealth through business development and was 49. Mrs MacLeod had been studying for a degree in business administration and was 27. Four months later they moved from the US to the Isle of Man, where they lived together for the remainder of their nearly 10 year marriage, and had five sons.

In 1997 a temporary post-nuptial agreement was signed which lapsed a year later. In July 2002 a further post-nuptial agreement was signed. It is this latter agreement which became the bone of contention between the parties upon their divorce. The 2002 agreement did a lot. It confirmed

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NEWS
Ceri Morgan, knowledge counsel at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP, analyses the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd, which reshapes the law of fiduciary relationships and common law bribery
The boundaries of media access in family law are scrutinised by Nicholas Dobson in NLJ this week
Reflecting on personal experience, Professor Graham Zellick KC, Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader of the Middle Temple, questions the unchecked power of parliamentary privilege
Geoff Dover, managing director at Heirloom Fair Legal, sets out a blueprint for ethical litigation funding in the wake of high-profile law firm collapses
James Grice, head of innovation and AI at Lawfront, explores how artificial intelligence is transforming the legal sector
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