When people find out that I asked my husband to sign a prenuptial agreement in advance of our marriage they are often surprised and sometimes shocked. People ask me why I would get married if I was already looking at a scenario where we might split and our assets be divided, but the truth is that I am a realist.

While I love my husband desperately, I know all too well that sometimes these things can change. This is my second marriage and I learnt the hard way that sometimes, as much as you may want it to, love does not last forever.

Throughout my life I have worked hard to achieve my goals; even as a divorcee with two young children, I poured my energies into my own public relations business and have been lucky enough to see it thrive. And while I am happy to share the proceeds of my success with my husband during our time together, I certainly do not feel that he should have any right to my assets in the event that our relationship should break down.

As far as I am concerned, everything I have built is security for my own children when I am gone and I don’t think anyone should judge me for trying to protect that for them. For this reason, when my husband proposed to me I said yes only on the condition that he agree to sign a prenuptial agreement, laying out clearly what we would each be entitled to in the (I would like to think unlikely) event of a later divorce.
 

My husband is a pragmatist and readily agreed to the arrangement, a fact that gave me even more confidence in his feelings for me. The agreement was drawn up by family law solicitors and signed by both of us, becoming a legal document.

And while many people delight in telling me that prenuptial agreements are not valid in the UK, my solicitors advised me that, while not entirely set in stone, this legal document is always more likely than not to be upheld by the courts in the event of a challenge, since the terms it sets out are not unfair and because we both agreed willingly to these terms.

People think that I am not a romantic and criticise my decision to involve solicitors in the preparation for our marriage, but when they say this I point out to them that marriage in itself is a legal contract between two people, so why should we not add our own stipulations to the contract to make it even more comfortable for us to enter into? 

I don’t regret my decision to ask for a prenuptial agreement and feel reassured by its existence. I feel it was the responsible thing to do to approach a family law solicitor for legal help in protecting my children’s future, and I truly believe it is a document that I will never have to enforcee