Written question asked by Ashok Kumar (Labour) on Monday, 13 December 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 December 2004. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Monday, 20 December 2004 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, what estimate he has made of the percentage of divorce cases in which a prenuptial agreement is enforced in court.

Answer: Dr. Kumar: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what estimate he has made of the percentage of divorce cases in which a prenuptial agreement is enforced in court. [205462] Mr. Lammy: Pre-nuptial agreements are not legally enforceable at present, but the courts may consider the terms of such agreements when exercising their discretion in relation to the division of property on divorce. Figures on the number of cases in which the courts exercise their discretion in this way are not collected. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the cases where pre-nuptial agreements are an issue are rare.

Secondary information