For years many said prenups were not worth the paper they were written on, but since the decision in Radmacher and Granatino last year, one individual was convinced of its effectiveness that he killed his wife over it.
The trial continues of BA pilot Robert Brown who admits killing his millionairess wife Joanna in October last year but denies murder.
It is alleged that Mr Brown killed his wealthy wife and buried her body in a pre-prepared grave because he had been stitched up by the prenuptial agreement they had signed. His lawyer claimed that his wife had deliberately concealed the extent of her wealth and then convinced himself their marriage had been a sham.
The couple who were married in 1999 and had two children aged 9 and 11 had signed a prenup prior to the wedding. By 2007 their relationship had broken down and their divorce proceedings are described as “acrimonious and bitterly contested”
The prenup prevented Mr Brown from making any claim upon the ownership of the £3million marital home even though he had invested £200,000 of his own money to turn it into an upmarket bed and breakfast hotel. He had no claim on his wife’s inheritance from her property developer father which is said to have run into millions.
On 31st October last year Mr Brown said he flipped and attacked Mrs Brown with a mallet. The trial continues at Reading County Court.
I note from the Global Times in China that a recent survey published on 11th May that in large cities such as Beijing and Shanghai that less than 5% of married couples have prenuptial agreements. The survey by Horizon Research Consultancy Group conducted the survey across China’s 10 largest cities.
The survey stated that 25.4% of the respondents believed that such an agreement implies a lack of trust between them and a further 22% felt they would be damaging to the relationship.
I wonder if a similar survey conducted across Europe would come out with the same figures.
Mark Sage Blogs 