Pre-nuptials: reasons to be careful part 2

Jill felt humiliated by her fiancée’s demands and they split up just days before the wedding. She continued in her job as a computer consultant and now earns a six-figure salary. Her current boyfriend Jack earns considerably less but Jill says she would never ask him to sign a pre-nuptial if they decide to get married.

‘After the hurt I experienced with Glen I couldn’t imagine I’d want to go through the same thing with Jack. We are thinking about buying a house together next year and it will be in both our names even though I’m likely to be in a position to make a bigger contribution to the mortgage. At the end of the day, money is no substitute for love.’ Jack agrees: ‘I don’t think I’d want to be in a relationship that was based around a set of legal and financial conditions.’

However, people with failed marriages behind them are more likely to be cautious in future relationships. ‘I think it’s a case of once bitten twice shy,’ says David Benedict, an American banker who works in London. ‘I didn’t have a pre-nuptial for my first marriage because we were very young and idealistic when we got married. I think my ex-wife was unreasonable in her demands for the divorce settlement and I wouldn’t risk that happening a second time.’

Read the legal perspective on pre-nuptial agreements in part one.