German heiress wins landmark British court ruling over pre-nuptials

Jul 2, 2009, 13:48 GMT

London - A German heiress Thursday won a major legal case over the validity of pre-nuptial agreements that could pave the way for such contracts becoming legally binding in Britain.

Katrin Radmacher, 39, won a ruling from the Court of Appeal in Britain which overturned an earlier court decision awarding her French ex-husband 5.8 million pounds (9.4 million dollars) of her estimated fortune of 100 million pounds.

Frenchman Nicolas Granatino, a student at the time the agreement was struck, had pledged not to make a claim if the couple divorced.

Such contracts are enforceable in Germany, where the couple's was signed, but not in Britain, where they married.

Following the ruling, it is expected that such contracts, which in the past had been 'taken into account' by the courts, will gain greater legal weight.

Appeal judge Mathew Alexander Thorpe said he believed it had become 'increasingly unrealistic' for courts to disregard pre-nuptial agreements. 'It reflects the laws and morals of earlier generations,' he said.

'It does not sufficiently recognize the rights of autonomous adults to govern their future financial relationship by agreement in an age when marriage is not generally regarded as a sacrament and divorce is a statistical commonplace.'

The Frenchman was expected to seek permission to take the case to the House of Lords, the highest British appeal court.

But Radmacher said she was delighted by the decision.

'Ultimately, this case has been about what I regard as a broken promise,' she said.

'From today grown ups can agree in the best of times what will happen in the worst of times,' she added.