With an increase in blended families including second marriages, those who choose to re-marry may wish to consider what financial arrangements they can put in place to safeguard and/or ringfence any assets, capital, private pension, property and business interests during their marriage and in the unfortunate event such a re-marriage comes to an end.

In instances where assets remain tied up in a spouse’s first marriage, it may take some years for these to be released if part of the financial settlement consisted of a postponed division of a property, usually on the basis of a youngest child reaching the age of 18 or completing full time education.

Whilst the concept of having a pre-nuptial or even a post-nuptial agreement may seem as if it is only for the rich and famous, it can be instrumental in how spouses choose to deal with their finances in their second marriage. This is even the case where such assets are of modest value and/or one or both spouses may have children from their first marriage or previous relationship for whom they may also wish to make financial provisions.

If you would like to discuss your options, please contact one of our experienced family law experts.