# US Citizen Marrying UK Citizen; Prenup Advice Needed



## hayburner (Feb 2, 2012)

Hi all,

I am a US citizen engaged to a British man. We have gone through the process of obtaining a Marriage Visitor Visa and are being married in about 6 weeks time (yay!).

After that I will be remaining in the US for a period of time, as I am in the process of seeking permission to remove my child with me to the UK. My fiance is not able to come to the US due to a drug trafficking charge that is over 20 years old. He was 19. That is a whole nuther story...

My fiance and I have agreed that a prenuptial agreement makes sense for us. IF for some reason I am not able to get to the UK with my daughter, and, as years drag on we decide to divorce (we do not anticipate this but who ever does), we would like to keep what we each had entering into the marriage.

If I am able to relocate then we would proceed as any normal married couple in regard to our assets.

We need a prenuptial agreement that would be valid in both the US and the UK. (I think). How do we do this? Paying a lawyer is not in the cards, I'm tapped out from the court case I am already involved in.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

hayburner said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I am a US citizen engaged to a British man. We have gone through the process of obtaining a Marriage Visitor Visa and are being married in about 6 weeks time (yay!).
> 
> ...


Prenuptial Agreement is a legal minefield, and if it isn't watertight, it can be challenged in court. If you can't afford a lawyer, then I suggest you give up the idea and just proceed like a normal couple who are committed to each other for life. At least use a template available online and show it to a lawyer on a fixed fee basis before going ahead.


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## hayburner (Feb 2, 2012)

I thought it might be something like that.  It's ok, if we can't do it it's not the end of the world, but I wanted to look into it.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

hayburner said:


> I thought it might be something like that. It's ok, if we can't do it it's not the end of the world, but I wanted to look into it.


Prenups have only become accepted by British courts in the last few years and the efficacy is hedged about with conditions. If you don't use a UK lawyer, it's likely to be unenforceable. Of course if the split is amicable and both don't intend to benefit financially from the breakup, an informal agreement may suffice but you don't know about the nature and circumstances of break-up until it happens and the legal advisor for either party may have other ideas.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

One alternative - it's not legally binding, but would serve the same purpose assuming both parties approached it in good faith: draw up an agreement between yourselves as to your property split and how you want to split your finances during the marriage and beyond. Write it down, sign it and if things move in a bad direction, take out that agreement and agree to work from that.

In the event of a divorce, you each show up at the lawyers' offices with the property issues already resolved and you could save yourselves a bundle in lawyer's bills. But it has to be voluntary on both sides or it's not worth the paper it's written on.

If nothing else, it's a good exercise in working together on important issues before you tie the knot.
Cheers,
Bev


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