Heiress wins pre-nuptial court case

03 July 2009



German heiress Katrin Radmacher has successfully appealed an earlier court ruling which gave her ex-husband, Mr Granatino, in excess of £5.5 million of her fortune. The Court of Appeal decided that the pre nuptial agreement should be given decisive weight and that the award to Mr Granatino should be linked to him as a home maker for the couples two daughters (he and Ms Radmacher share residence) rather than to him as a husband.

Thus he would not be given a housing fund outright but only until both daughters were 18 or had completed their university education. The capital sum to be paid to him in respect of his income needs was to be reduced for the same reason. The children's maintenance provisions of the original decision were untouched.

In a statement, Ms Radmacher explained that her father had insisted upon the agreement and said that ' ......this case has been about what I regard as a broken promise. ......... The agreement gave me the reassurance that Nicolas was marrying me because he loved me as I loved him..'

Having read the Judgments of the three Court of Appeal Judges, Sue Andrews, partner in the Family law practice group comments: "the Court of Appeal has given a clear message that there needs to be legislative reform and soon to bring our law in line with other jurisdictions.

"Lord Justice Thorpe made the point that had this case been decided in either Germany or France Mr Granatino would have got nothing for himself. In this case the Judges were clearly influenced by the fact that Ms Radmacher was German, Mr Granatino French, and that in both those countries pre nuptial agreements are common practice and would be upheld."

However until that reform, each case will continue to be decided upon its own individual facts. The Court of Appeal made it clear that it wasn't their role to bring about such reform.

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