This article was originally published in Family Law Week, 08 October 2021, and can be accessed here. Jo’s comments were also featured in The Legal Diary on 15 October 2021 here. 

Following the news that a £400 million settlement has made Kirsty Bertarelli one of the richest British-born divorcees, lawyers have suggested she could have been awarded a far greater slice of the £9.2 billion fortune she shared with her industrialist former husband but for the existence of a prenuptial agreement between the couple.

“With assets like these at stake, I cannot imagine that Kirsty Bertarelli did not take legal advice about the possibility of proceeding with a divorce in this jurisdiction.  It is likely that she was advised that the court here would have given the existing Swiss prenuptial agreement considerable weight and the outcome might not have been any different, despite the purported generosity of the English divorce court.

“Clients and family lawyers alike should take this as a sign that a good prenuptial agreement, entered into with all the right safeguards, is worth its weight in gold.”