Prenuptial agreements are on the rise – so why do they still feel taboo?

Published

12 months ago

May 18, 2024

admin

As Olivia* was picking her wedding dress, she and her partner Leo were also discussing divorce.

Despite being in love and ready to commit, having a prenup, they both agreed, was simply the sensible thing to do when starting married life.

“You go into it with love and hope for the future,” Olivia says. “But also realism.”

They are not alone. Once the preserve of Hollywood celebs and the super-rich, prenuptial agreements are on the rise among “normal” people too, with legal and marriage experts saying numbers have increased dramatically in recent years; around one in five weddings in the UK now involves some form of legal agreement, according to several polls.

Olivia and Leo got engaged last year after meeting on a dating app. Olivia, in her early 40s, is a business founder and Leo, who is in his late 30s, now works for her company. He was the one to initially broach the subject of a prenup.

“I didn’t want to at first as it doesn’t feel very romantic,” says Olivia. “It kind of puts a dampener on things – you’re at this really happy stage of getting married and then you’re potentially talking about, what happens if we split?”

Both have children from previous marriages, both have been through divorce. They decided a prenup was the right thing to do. Now, just a few weeks after their honeymoon, they are happily reminiscing through their wedding day photos; the prenup filed away, no longer a talking point, but there should they ever need it.

“It didn’t feel right that if something was to happen in the future, I could just have what she had built with her business,” says Leo. “I wanted to make the decision from my heart and do what’s right and to focus on building shared assets together.”

“Both of us had amicable divorces,” Olivia adds. “But we know what can happen. It’s reality, and I think life is more complex these days.”

The law on prenups in the UK

A prenuptial or premarital agreement is one made before a couple marries or enters into a civil partnership, setting out how they wish assets to be divided in the event of a split. They are not automatically enforceable in England and Wales, but following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in 2010, courts now take them into account as long as they have been made in good faith.

They have long been commonplace for celebrities: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie reportedly had one, as apparently did Britney Spears and Sam Asghari. Catherine Zeta Jones reportedly told Vanity Fair back in 2000, the year she married Michael Douglas, that she thinks prenups are “brilliant”. And over the past few years, they have filtered into the real world, too.

Co-op Legal Services says prenup sales in 2023 were up by 60% on 2022, as were cohabitation agreements – and that postnup agreements almost trebled (an increase of almost 185%) in the same period. It says 21% of married people in Britain, or one in five couples, now have some form of an agreement in place, tallying with research published by marriage advocate charity the Marriage Foundation in 2021.

The average value of the assets included in Co-op prenups sits between £500,000 and £600,000, it says. Family law firm OLS Solicitors also reports a big increase in requests – a rise of 60% between 2021 and 2023, with a further 26% increase in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.

Experts put the rise down to a number of factors: women earning more; more people remarrying and going into partnerships with children; the internet increasing savviness and accessibility when it comes to the law. Millennials and younger generations are also generally getting married later in life than their parents, therefore accruing more assets individually ahead of the milestone.

Plus, these generations have grown up experiencing divorce between mums and dads or other people close to them, in a way that was far less common for their parents and grandparents.

‘Break-up talk isn’t romantic – neither is death, but we make a will’

Despite the rising number of couples choosing this route, it seems few are comfortable talking about it publicly. The idea of a prenup being “unromantic” still prevails.

Olivia and Leo did not want to give their real names, saying they did not feel ready to share the details with the world. They arranged their prenup through Wenup, an online platform aiming to make couples’ deals more accessible and affordable, launched in the UK in 2023 in response to the increasing demand.

“Prenups are considered taboo, unromantic and are something very private to most people,” says Wenup co-founder James Brookner.

“This is changing for younger generations who have a more open, pragmatic and non-traditional view of marriage, but for many people, thinking about what will happen if they break up in the lead-up to a wedding is a difficult enough conversation to have in private, let alone public.”

Nicole*, who moved from the UK to New Zealand several years ago and married her husband, Will, after three years together in 2019, says they discussed getting a prenup – or contracting out agreement, as they are known there – before she moved in with him, six months into their relationship.

“[He] raised the idea because he had worked hard to buy his first house and wanted to ensure he retained his rights to ownership should our relationship break down,” Nicole says.

The 38-year-old admits she was “caught a bit off guard” when he first broached the subject, but due to the law in the country – the Property Relationships Act, which means any individually owned property is shared equally in the event of a break-up after three years of a couple living together, regardless of marriage – it felt like the right thing to do.

They reached an agreement they were both happy with and Will, 42, covered legal costs as they had to have independent advice. The couple now have a young daughter and are happily married – and for this, you have to balance romance and practicality, says Nicole.

“Talking about breaking up isn’t romantic – nor is talking about death, but we all have to write a will at some stage. I think the reluctance is often because one party is trying to protect assets from the other, with no ill intent usually, but I can see why the other party may feel a little despondent about the suggestion if they don’t understand the law.

“Personally, I have seen too many nasty break-ups that could have been a lot cleaner had the proper agreements been in place at the outset.”

What do prenups cover?

While couples in the UK might not be showing them off along with their engagement pics, attitudes are changing privately. A YouGov poll in 2023 found that 42% of British people consider prenups a good idea, compared with 13% who consider them a bad idea. A similar poll on prenups 10 years earlier found that 35% would sign a prenup if asked to, with 36% saying they would not.

Family law solicitor Tracey Moloney, who is known as The Legal Queen online – with more than a million followers across her TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts – says social media has made legal advice more accessible.

Up to about five years ago she would probably get one prenuptial request a year, if that. Now, she averages about one a week, taking cohabitation agreements for unmarried couples into consideration as well. She says she would always advise couples to have one.

“I think any family lawyer is going to say that because we see so many divorces. We’re realists. I think people can forget that when you say ‘I do’, you are entering into a contractual relationship anyway… financial ties exist because your marriage has created a binding contract. If you’re going to go into a contract in any other scenario – buying a property, buying shares in a company – you’re going to take advice. I don’t think marriage should be seen any differently.”

Prenups can cover anything from money to property to assets – including future assets such as expected inheritance – whether they are worth millions or simply of sentimental value, she points out, citing a recent agreement drawn up to protect an antique writing desk. It was “really dear to that person, passed down from generation to generation”, but of no real monetary value.

At the other end of the scale, she recalls one divorce after a long marriage which didn’t involve a prenup; the wife had inherited jewellery worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. “It was never intended to be sold but it had significant value and it was added to her side of the balance sheet. She kept the jewellery but as a result, the ex kept a lot more of his pension, which she was entitled to. If she’d had a prenup, it could have been ring-fenced.”

Michelle Elman, a TV life coach and author known as Queen Of Boundaries, says when it comes to prenups she encourages any conversations about finance early on in a relationship.

“It’s hard to say, black or white, whether prenups are good or bad as it depends on the couple,” she says. “Some people might think a prenup is going into a marriage with bad faith, but if you’re going into the marriage with more certainty and clarity because you have it, then that’s best for you.

“The unhealthy option is not going into a prenup because you’re scared to have the conversation. I think for any healthy marriage to survive, you need to have already spoken about money before you get married, whether it’s because of a prenup or not.”

From proposal to prenup

Harry Benson, research director for the Marriage Foundation, says he was surprised at the results of the charity’s survey findings. “I thought this was something we would only find among the very richest people,” he says.

The 20% having some form of agreement applied to those married since 2000, compared with just 1.5% who were married in the 1970s, 5% in the 1980s and 8% in the 1990s. The charity’s poll did find higher earners were more likely to have prenups; higher earning women in particular. In terms of education, the findings were the other way round.

Mr Benson says he personally finds the idea of “dividing up the spoils before you even get started” as “deeply” unromantic. “Divorce law, broadly speaking, protects people,” he says. “For the vast majority, there’s not an awful lot of point to getting them. And of course, there is the risk that you make the proposal, down on one knee, and then say, ‘please sign my prenup’. The response? ‘Get stuffed! Are you the type of person I want to marry?'”

However, he says the research found no link to divorce rates – that having a prenup did not make it more or less likely that a couple would go on to break up.

“It’s not for me, but it is for some people,” he says. “I can see why people do it and I can certainly see the benefits for some… I just personally find them a bit oxymoronic.”

But the idea of the prenup being unromantic is definitely changing. Wenup says making the process more equitable and open means they are seeing the shift firsthand, with customers who don’t necessarily fit the stereotype of rich wealth protectors.

“If you’re not sure you need one, you probably need one,” says the Legal Queen. “They’re a bit like insurance – you hope you never have to claim on it, but it’s there to protect you if you do.”

*Names have been changed

UK

Cambridge hospital accused of ‘covering up’ concerns about suspended surgeon a decade ago

Published

5 hours ago

May 11, 2025

admin

Cambridge hospital accused of 'covering up' concerns about suspended surgeon a decade ago

One of the country’s leading hospitals has been accused of covering up concerns about a surgeon made a decade before she was eventually suspended.

Kuldeep Stohr was suspended from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in January this year after a review found issues with some of her surgeries – with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) later saying it was reviewing the care of 800 patients.

A joint investigation by Sky News and The Sunday Times found the trust may have downplayed previous concerns, with a report identifying issues with Ms Stohr back in 2016.

A senior source at the hospital said children were “severely permanently harmed”, and “some of the cases are horrendous”. They said the damage could have been avoided and told Sky News there was “the impression of a cover up”.

In one case, a child injured in a car accident was left with a broken arm for 11 days after Ms Stohr failed to spot it.

Concerns were first raised in 2015, with the CUH commissioning an external expert to examine several of Ms Stohr’s patients and their treatment.

A letter shared between staff at the time – and seen by Sky News – says the trust was satisfied the report did not raise any concerns.

But a copy of the report, obtained by Sky News and The Sunday Times, shows it did identify “technical issues” with the surgeries of multiple patients.

Now questions are being asked about why the hospital didn’t act sooner.

One patient, whose son was treated by the surgeon in 2018, says she is “angry” she was not listened to at the time after she raised concerns about Ms Stohr’s conduct.

Ms Stohr said: “I always strive to provide the highest standards of care to all my patients. I am cooperating fully with the trust investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Dr Susan Broster, chief medical officer at Cambridge University Hospitals said the trust “apologise unreservedly to all the patients and families we have let down”.

She added that patients who were considered in the 2016 report also form part of the latest clinical review: “We have spoken to those patients and families and offered to meet them in person.”

It is not clear if those patients were contacted at the time of the first report.

‘Some of the cases are horrendous’

A source at the hospital said the damage was “all avoidable” while “the lives of children and families have been ruined”.

“Stohr destroyed people’s lives by performing very poor surgery. She destroyed some hip joints,” they said.

But they said staff felt they were “bullied and intimidated when they tried to raise concerns”, and were told the initial 2016 report showed no issues with Ms Stohr.

“I consider that these cases have been properly investigated and am reassured that there is no concern about Kuldeep’s practice,” said a letter sent to staff from the trust in 2016.

“I have the impression there has been a cover up,” the source told Sky News.

Dr Broster, from the CUH, said the trust had commissioned Verita, a specialist investigations company, to carry out an independent investigation to see if issues could have been addressed sooner – but added that it would be inappropriate to comment further while the review was ongoing.

She said the trust would publish the findings of the Verita report and said it was “committed to implementing the findings and recommendations in full”, with the initial findings expected by the autumn.

‘Technical errors’: What the 2016 report said

The doctor who authored the 2016 report wrote he had “some anxieties about the technical aspects” of one patient’s operation.

He highlighted “technical error[s]” on several other operations.

Some patients were “difficult cases” where “decision making was broadly correct”, and issues were not found with each one.

On one patient, the report said an issue that arose was a “known complication and does not indicate poor care. These were difficult hips”.

The report also cited a “divided apartment of paediatric orthopaedics” in which “discussion of difficult cases and mutual support does not exist”.

But the report did say Ms Stohr did not always order CT scans after operations took place.

It said all cases of DDH (Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip) surgery should have an MRI or CT scan after the operation had been completed.

Two reports, nine years apart

Ms Stohr was suspended this year with a 2025 report highlighting similar concerns, including around post-op imaging.

The 2025 findings said one procedure – a pelvic osteotomy, where the pelvic bone is cut and reshaped to improve the alignment of the hip joint – was one “Ms Stohr appears to find difficult”.

It also raised concerns that Ms Stohr “frequently operates on her own”, or with more junior members of staff.

“There have clearly been cases when technical issues arose during surgery where the presence of a consultant colleague may have been helpful,” the latest report said.

It also said the lack of imaging at the end of procedures “is inexplicable and not the standard of care”.

Catherine Slattery, senior associate at Irwin Mitchell who is representing some of the affected families, said both reports showed “similar themes”.

“Clearly things have got much worse in 2025. So, the question is, what could have been done in 2016 to have prevented this from happening?” she said.

Issues, such as Ms Stohr not ordering bone scans, were “very strange”, she added.

“But if we take the individual out, why has nobody else noticed that every other surgeon in the team has been ordering scans, but one person hasn’t?”

But she said the trust has “been playing catch up”: “[It] only seems to be taking steps when they are being prompted to do so by people like me, or journalists, or other people asking difficult questions – or even the local MP having to ask difficult questions.”

‘Leave it in the hands of God’

Seven-year-old Oliver Muhlhausen has constant foot pain – and it’s getting worse.

He was born with a severe deformity which Ms Stohr said didn’t need to be operated on.

Oliver was seen by the specialist surgeon in 2018, but his mother, Nicola, claims she was told: “There is no operation within my remits or that I can or am willing to perform, go away and leave it in the hands of God.”

The family eventually sought a second opinion, moving to be treated at a different hospital, but said Oliver has been left in “constant agony”.

“I’ve been told that if she had done something sooner or even attempted to do something sooner then he probably would have stood a bit better chance than what he’s currently going through.”

Nicola said she “upset and angry” at not being listened to, especially considering concerns were raised internally two years before her son became a patient of Ms Stohr.

“I cannot understand why something was not done sooner, because clearly there were issues,” she said, adding that hospital staff “need to be held accountable”.

She filed a formal complaint in 2019 but said this was “brushed under the carpet”.

In response to her complaint at the time, the trust said Ms Stohr “would like to apologise unreservedly for her failures of clear communication”.

‘Life could be different now’

Ellise Kingsley is now 24 and cannot walk for long periods of time – she is left in daily pain and distress.

She is not one of the 800 cases currently being examined by the CUH but was operated on by Ms Stohr in 2012 and 2016.

She said, had the 2016 report been acted on, life could be very different for her now.

“It is upsetting to think that I could have had a completely different lifestyle as such in the last ten years,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have had to even think about my foot now at 24.

“It stresses me out actually to think that there was a chance for change, but change didn’t happen.”

Pippa Heylings, MP for South Cambridgeshire, said it was an “anxious and distressing time for all involved”, and called on Addenbrooke’s Hospital to be “open and transparent” as well as independent.

She said: “The hospital cannot be seen to be marking its own homework. It is crucial for all to come forward with relevant information and evidence including whistleblowers with no fear of consequence or retaliation.”

The CUH said it has set up a dedicated Patient and Family Liaison Team, and encourages anyone concerned about their care to call the dedicated helpline on 0808 175 6331 or email CUH.helpline@nhs.net.

UK

Migration must be ‘properly controlled’ says home secretary – as sweeping reforms unveiled

Published

6 hours ago

May 10, 2025

admin

Migration must be 'properly controlled' says home secretary - as sweeping reforms unveiled

The government is set to roll out sweeping reforms to the immigration system.

The skilled visa threshold will be raised to require a graduate qualification and a higher salary threshold, under plans outlined in an immigration white paper that will be presented in parliament on Monday.

For jobs below this level, access to the immigration system will be “time-limited” and only granted if there are shortages “critical to the industrial strategy”.

Strategies to increase domestic skills and recruitment would also need to be drawn up, with a labour market evidence group set to be established to identify sectors “overly reliant on overseas labour”.

Under the plans to reduce net migration to the UK, employers will be told that they must train workers in the UK rather than turn to immigration to solve labour shortages.

Net migration – the difference between the number of people immigrating and emigrating to a country – soared when the UK left the EU in January 2020.

It reached 903,000 in the year to June 2023 before falling to 728,000 in mid-2024.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has blamed overseas recruitment for the rise in net migration over the last four years after Labour inherited a “failed” immigration system from the previous government.

“Migration must be properly controlled and managed so the system is fair,” Ms Cooper said.

Ms Cooper added: “Overseas recruitment soared at the same time as big increases in the number of people not working or in education here in the UK.

“The last government lost control of the immigration system and there was no proper plan to tackle skills shortages here at home.

“Under our Plan for Change, we are taking decisive action to restore control and order to the immigration system, raise domestic training and skills, and bring down net migration while promoting economic growth.”

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

Meanwhile, the Conservatives will try to force a vote in parliament on capping the number of non-visitor visas that can be issued.

The party is trying to amend the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which if accepted would give the government the power to cap visas in line with the country’s needs, and allow them to be revoked if the limit is exceeded.

The Tories are also behind a separate amendment to the same bill which would look to disapply the Human Rights Act in asylum and deportation cases.

Responding to the government’s white paper, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said “fixing Britain’s migration crisis requires a new radical approach. Labour had the opportunity to do this and have failed”.

He added: “If Labour were serious about immigration, they’d back our binding immigration cap and back our plan to repeal the entire Human Rights Act from immigration matters. But they have got no grip, no guts and no plan.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary Chris Philp and Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice will be among the guests on Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday show from 8.30am today.

UK

Ukraine presses Russia for 30-day ceasefire as Starmer among leaders in Kyiv for talks

Published

17 hours ago

May 10, 2025

admin

Ukraine presses Russia for 30-day ceasefire as Starmer among leaders in Kyiv for talks

Sir Keir Starmer has joined other European leaders in Kyiv to press Russia to agree an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

The prime minister is attending the summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, recently-elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

It is the first time the leaders of the four countries have travelled to Ukraine at the same time – arriving in the capital by train – with their meeting hosted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It comes after Donald Trump called for “ideally” a 30-day ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and warned that if any pause in the fighting is not respected “the US and its partners will impose further sanctions”.

Security and defence analyst Michael Clarke told Sky News presenter Samantha Washington the European leaders are “rowing in behind” the US president, who referred to his “European allies” for the first time in this context in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“So this meeting is all about heaping pressure on the Russians to go along with the American proposal,” he said.

“It’s the closest the Europeans and the US have been for about three months on this issue.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its allies are ready for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” for at least 30 days starting on Monday.

Ahead of the meeting on Saturday, Sir Keir, Mr Macron, Mr Tusk and Mr Merz released a joint statement.

European leaders show solidarity – but await Trump’s backing

Dominic Waghorn

International affairs editor

@DominicWaghorn

The hope is Russia’s unilateral ceasefire, such as it’s worth, can be extended for a month to give peace a chance.

But ahead of the meeting, Ukrainian sources told Sky News they are still waiting for President Donald Trump to put his full weight behind the idea.

The US leader has said a 30-day ceasefire would be ideal, but has shown no willingness yet for putting pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to agree.

The Russians say a ceasefire can only come after a peace deal can be reached.

European allies are still putting their hopes in a negotiated end to the war despite Moscow’s intransigence and President Trump’s apparent one-sided approach favouring Russia.

Ukrainians would prefer to be given enough economic and military support to secure victory.

But in over three years, despite its massive economic superiority to Russia and its access to more advanced military technology, Europe has not found the political will to give Kyiv the means to win.

Until they do, Vladimir Putin may decide it is still worth pursuing this war despite its massive cost in men and materiel on both sides.

“We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace,” they said.

“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”

The leaders said they were “ready to support peace talks as soon as possible”.

But they warned that they would continue to “ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine” until Moscow agrees to a lasting ceasefire.

“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognised borders for generations to come,” their statement added.

“We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine.”

👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈

The European leaders are set to visit the Maidan, a central square in Ukraine’s capital where flags represent those who died in the war.

They are also expected to host a virtual meeting for other leaders in the “coalition of the willing” to update them on progress towards a peacekeeping force.

Military officers from around 30 countries have been involved in drawing up plans for a coalition, which would provide a peacekeeping force in the event of a ceasefire being agreed between Russia and Ukraine.