The rise of the prenup – and why so many of us are now getting one

Published

4 months ago

June 2, 2025

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The number of couples deciding to get a prenup is increasing, with one law firm telling Money it has seen requests double in the last year.

It is estimated that more than 20% of all married couples in the country have signed one of these agreements.

So, what are they, and why are so many of us opting for one? The Money team took a look…

A quick rundown of what a prenup is

A prenup is a legal arrangement made by a couple before they marry or enter a civil partnership, which sets out plans for how their assets should be divided if they divorce or have their civil partnership dissolved.

They are not legally binding, but thanks to a landmark ruling in 2010, courts are expected to uphold prenups that have been entered into freely.

However, courts are still able to make decisions on a case-by-case basis, meaning prenups that appear to have been entered under pressure or written up particularly unfairly might not be given as much weight.

Four reasons why they have become more popular

The landmark ruling

Prenups used to be associated with the ultra wealthy and famous, but after the Radmacher v Granatino ruling, people became more aware of them, Charlotte Lanning from Edward’s Family Law told Money.

After that decision, prenups agreed by celebrity couples made headlines across the country, making them appear “glitzy” and desirable, she said.

“When I was first starting out, I would do prenups on the odd occasion, whereas now we always have a couple on the go each,” the associate solicitor said.

Getting married later

While the ruling was a factor, Lanning thinks the more recent increase in prenups has been driven by changes in society. People are getting married later and are less worried about looking unromantic.

“The fact that people are getting married a lot later in life… means there is more to argue over,” Lanning said, explaining that the older people are, the more likely they are to own businesses, properties or other assets.

The bank of mum and dad

A lot of her clients were also relying more on the “bank of mum and dad” to fund big purchases, such as the deposit on a first home.

Lanning said this made wealth inequities more obvious, putting prenups at the “forefront of people’s minds” before they get married.

Changing attitudes

The Marriage Foundation thinktank has been looking at prenups for years, and its founder and former judge Sir Paul Coleridge told Money that changing attitudes were a big driver in the uptick.

“The old Victorian view was that it was wrong to have people talking about what should happen when a marriage broke down when the clear intention was to stay married for life,” he said.

“I’m a convert. I felt quite strongly that it was wrong to start discussing divorce before marriage, but I have completely changed my mind.

“People do quite often want to have a discussion about what should happen in the worst case.”

He explained that despite the stereotype of a rich man paying off a younger, poorer wife, that was no longer the case either.

“You find people getting married now are very established financially and have made a great deal of money on their own, and this is men and women,” he said.

“It’s certainly not only applicable to men paying women. Nowadays, it’s very frequent to be the other way around.”

Who is signing them?

Lanning said a typical client was often a high net worth individual, but it was becoming more common for young people who are in line to receive a large inheritance to get a prenup.

“A lot of the ones I have done recently have been quite interesting because it is more to do with future inheritance,” she said.

“One of the parties that is getting married won’t necessarily have the money yet, but the prenup is to make sure that if they do receive it during the marriage, that it is protected.”

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She explained that parents can be the driving force of these agreements, with many wanting to make sure their child keeps hold of their inheritance.

Then there are divorcees. Lanning said people who used her firm for their divorce proceedings will return when they’re considering getting married for a second time.

“We see it often with second marriages, particularly if the parties have children from a previous marriage or relationship. Obviously, the older you are, the more money you’ve got because you’ve had longer to build it up.”

Sir Paul stressed that prenups were not necessary for every couple, so people should consider them carefully before signing one.

What do they include?

A prenup can cover a range of topics, with Sir Paul saying he has seen some in the US that set out bizarre requirements such as the number of times a couple must have sex.

Typically, it will cover property, savings, inheritance, stocks and shares, income, business interests, pension pots, and premium bonds.

In the UK, a prenup cannot include child custody arrangements, personal matters, illegal activities, or lifestyle issues.

When writing up a prenup, Lanning said property was the most common point of contention.

“It might specify that a home becomes joint property or it will stay separate,” she said.

“When there’s not a lot of money involved, the court will normally be looking at what the weaker financial party needs in order to rehouse.

“You will quite often have a clause in there that says after a certain number of years, you can have a specific amount to rehouse, or you can have a property in a certain area, with a set number of bedrooms.

“It just provides a bit of structure to try to temper down people’s needs,” she explained.

“There is a broad spectrum of what you can assert. The whole point of it is to try to stop arguments later down the line.”

How long do they take and how much do they cost?

The simple answer to both questions is that it completely depends on how complex the agreement is.

Lanning said the general rule is that a prenup should be signed 28 days before a couple gets married.

She said it’s “absolutely great” if people contact a solicitor about a prenup around six months before their wedding.

“That way, you can get the advice on what they do, what the process is, and then a lot of couples discuss it among themselves to decide what they want to achieve. Then they come with their practical realities, and we basically make it legal,” she said.

“Any earlier and you risk the financial disclosure then being out of date, which doesn’t help.”

Sir Paul said that when dealing with a high net worth family, the whole process could cost upwards of £10,000.

But in typical cases, people should be thinking “in terms of thousands” for the final cost.

How should you handle having the prenup conversation?

While people are less likely to find conversations around prenups uncomfortable nowadays, talking about money can still be difficult.

Amy Harris, legal director at advisory firm Brabners Personal, said having a chat about prenups tends to be easier when the issue is family money or inherited wealth.

“A prenup is sometimes a condition of them receiving any gifts or inheritance at all; it therefore comes across less personal between the couple themselves,” she said.

“We find that having full and frank financial discussions at the start of marriage can be enlightening and a good basis upon which to start their future together – with openness and transparency and a commitment to dealing with separation as amicably as possible.

“It is also important to remember that these agreements often work both ways in terms of any provisions that protect the prior assets of one party, which can also protect the prior assets of the other.”

UK

‘African tribe’ members evicted after raid on Scottish wood

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2025

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'African tribe' members evicted after raid on Scottish wood

Members of a self-styled African tribe living in a Scottish forest have been evicted, Sky News has been told.

The group, who have named themselves the Kingdom of Kubala, have been living in woods in Jedburgh, near the border of England, since May.

After they were served with an eviction notice in August as they were on private land, the trio moved their campsite over a fence to a neighbouring plot of land owned by Scottish Borders Council.

At Selkirk Sheriff Court on Wednesday, Sheriff Peter Paterson ruled that the trio would not be able to return to the original plot of land they were evicted from.

Councillor Scott Hamilton, deputy leader of the local authority, told Sky News on Thursday morning: “So, this group obviously arrived in Jedburgh a number of months ago. They set up camp here.

“They were originally on Scottish Borders Council land, and they set up camp and claimed they were a Kingdom of Kubala. And this, quite frankly, was ludicrous.

“It broke laws. It broke the rules. And as landowners we took action, as well as private landowners, to ensure this outcome today.”

Mr Hamilton said you “could never guess” the group’s next move, with the trio refusing to engage with the council, Police Scotland and adult protective services.

He added that “all they wanted was publicity”.

The group is made up of Kofi Offeh, 36, who calls himself King Atehene, his wife Jean Gasho, 43, who calls herself Queen Nandi, and “handmaiden” Kaura Taylor, 21, who goes by the name of Asnat.

The members of the self-proclaimed “kingdom” have said they are reclaiming land that was stolen from their ancestors 400 years ago.

Mr Hamilton branded their claim “ludicrous”, adding: “We’re working with the police, the Home Office etcetera, so we’ll continue to have that liaison as this case progresses.

“But people of Jedburgh can take some relief today that action has been taken.”

Sky’s Scotland correspondent Connor Gillies reported that the Texan mother of Ms Taylor, says her daughter was lured and coerced into moving to the forest, 4,000 miles away from home.

Melba Whitehead told Sky News the family spotted an online image of her living as a “handmaiden”, and pleaded with authorities to deport her daughter back to the US.

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UK

‘A disaster for living standards’: We now have just £1 more of disposable income than in 2019

Published

10 hours ago

October 2, 2025

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'A disaster for living standards': We now have just £1 more of disposable income than in 2019

Monthly disposable income fell by £40 per person between Boris Johnson’s election victory in December 2019 and Rishi Sunak’s defeat in July 2024.

It is the first time in recorded British history that disposable income has been lower at the end of a parliamentary term than it was at the start, Sky News Data x Forensics analysis reveals.

Disposable income is the money people have left over after paying taxes and receiving benefits (including pensions). Essential expenses like rent or mortgage payments, council tax, food and energy bills all need to be paid from disposable income.

Previously published figures showed a slight improvement between December 2019 and June 2024, but those were updated by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.

There has been an uplift in the last year, although we’re poorer now than we were at the start of the year, and today we only have £1 more on average to spend or save each month than we did at the end of 2019.

That represents “an unmitigated disaster for living standards”, according to Lalitha Try, economist at independent living standards thinktank the Resolution Foundation.

Have things gotten better under Labour?

Disposable income has increased by £41 per person per month since Labour took office in July 2024. However, that masks a significant deterioration in recent months: it is lower now than it was at the start of 2025.

In the first six months of Labour’s tenure, disposable income rose by £55, a larger increase than under any other government in the same period. In part, this was down to the pay rises for public sector workers that had been agreed under the previous Conservative administration.

But the rise also represents a continuation of the trajectory from the final six months of the outgoing government. Between December 2023 and June 2024, monthly disposable income rose by £46.

That trajectory reversed in the first part of this year, and the average person now has £14 less to spend or save each month than they did at the start of 2025.

Jeremy Hunt, Conservative chancellor from October 2022 until the July 2024 election defeat, told Sky News: “The big picture is that it was the pandemic rather than actions of a government that caused it [the fall in disposable income].

“I clawed some back through (I know I would say this) hard work, and Labour tried to buy an instant boost through massive pay rises. The curious thing is why they have not fed through to the numbers.”

The £40 drop between Mr Johnson’s electoral victory in 2019 and Mr Sunak’s loss in 2024 is roughly the same as the average person spends on food and drink per week.

By comparison, since 1955, when the data dates back to, living standards have improved by an average of £115 per month between parliamentary terms.

Vital services, things like energy, food and housing, that all need to be paid for out of disposable income, have all increased in price at a faster rate than overall inflation since 2019 as well.

This means that the impact on savings and discretionary spending is likely to be more severe for most people, and especially so for lower earners who spend a larger proportion of their money on essentials.

Responding to our analysis, the Resolution Foundation’s Lalitha Try said: “Average household incomes fell marginally during the last parliament – an unmitigated disaster for living standards, as families were hit first by the pandemic and then the highest inflation in a generation.

“We desperately need a catch-up boost to household incomes in the second half of the 2020s, and to achieve that we’ll need a return to wider economic growth.”

Analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which also takes into account housing costs, says that disposable income is projected to be £45 a month lower by September 2029 than it was when Labour took office.

We approached both Labour and the Conservative Party for comment but both failed to respond.

How are Labour performing in other areas?

Labour have made “improving living standards in all parts of the UK” one of their main “missions” to achieve during this parliament.

Sam Ray-Chaudhuri, research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told Sky News: “Labour’s mission to see an increase in living standards over the parliament remains a very unambitious one, given that (now) almost every parliament has seen a growth in disposable income.

“Doing so will represent an improvement compared with the last parliament, but it doesn’t change the fact that we are in a period of real lack of growth over the last few years.”

As well as the living standards pledge, the Sky News Data x Forensics team has been tracking some of the other key promises made by Sir Keir and his party, before and after they got into power, including both economic targets and policy goals.

Use our tracker to see how things like tax, inflation and economic growth has changed since Labour were elected.

The policy areas we have been tracking include immigration, healthcare, house-building, energy and crime. You can see Labour’s performance on each of those here.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

UK

Mother pleads Scotland to deport ‘brainwashed’ daughter living with ‘cult’ back to Texas

Published

10 hours ago

October 2, 2025

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Mother pleads Scotland to deport 'brainwashed' daughter living with 'cult' back to Texas

A Texas woman has told Sky News an African “cult” brainwashed, lured and coerced her daughter to move 4,000 miles away to a Scottish forest by preying on her vulnerabilities.

Aspiring lawyer Kaura Taylor, 21, was reported missing from Dallas in 2023, shortly after graduating school.

Her family then spotted an online image of her living as a “handmaiden” in the so-called Kingdom of Kubala in Jedburgh, Scotland.

Sky News can reveal Scottish authorities are assessing a report involving welfare and safety concerns.

Speaking exclusively in her first on-camera interview from Texas, Kaura’s mother, Melba Whitehead, pleaded for authorities to urgently deport her daughter to the US so they can be reunited.

The group, dressed head to toe in traditional African attire, is run by Kofi Offeh – who refers to himself as “The King” – and his partner Jean Gasho, who goes by “The Queen”.

Both lived a troubled existence in Stockton-on-Tees, in northeast England, prior to camping in the Scottish borders.

A video online shows Mr Offeh claiming ownership of Kaura and boasting “I bought you at a price” before she swears allegiance to her “masters”.

The camp, on the edge of an industrial estate, is at the centre of a legal battle after eviction notices were served to remove them from private and council land.

‘Under a spell’

Ms Whitehead alleges she became embroiled in a family dispute following the COVID pandemic.

She said the “cult” groomed her daughter, who was 19 at the time, on social media, before buying a one-way ticket to the UK for a new life in the woods.

The 45-year-old told Sky News: “They utilised the fact that she was angry. To encourage her to get away. They used the fact she was penniless living on her own.

“They utilised the funds that they had at their disposal to send for her. They made that happen.”

Asked if she believes Kaura was coerced into leaving the US, Melba Whitehead said: “I know so. She’s totally brainwashed. This is a cult.

“The first thing a cult is known to do is separate you from those that love you.”

She continued: “This isn’t just another young adult rebelling. This isn’t just another young adult who’s mad at the world. The difference is she’s under someone else’s spell in another country.”

‘I can run away if I wish’

Sky News has interviewed Kaura Taylor on her own, away from the so-called Kingdom of Kubala.

She denied being coerced and insisted: “Others are not my concern. People who care about my best interests know why I am here.”

The 21-year-old said “the only things that matter are the camp, the trees and the creepy crawlies” – as she denied being in a cult and dismissed her family’s concerns.

When pressed on how she got to the UK as a cash-strapped teenager, she said she had fled a “rough background” and arrived via a “divine form of transport”.

Ms Taylor she had the ability to “run” away if she wanted, but had no intention of doing so.

Police Scotland told Sky News that officers were looking to “engage with the individual concerned” after a report was made raising concerns.

“I don’t know why Scotland is allowing this foolishness,” said Melba Whitehead. “I believe that Jean and Kofi are opportunistic. I believe there are leeches and vultures for my daughter.”

‘Washed by righteousness’

Jean Gasho and Kofi Offeh denied the allegations when Sky News returned to the woods seeking a response.

When asked if he was operating a cult that was brainwashing Kaura, Mr Offeh replied: “This is the Kingdom … brainwashing is the best thing ever to happen to man if it is coming from the right source. For everyone’s brain needs to be washed by righteousness.”

He was questioned on whether he had coerced the 21-year-old but repeatedly dodged giving a direct answer.

He said: “I am the King of Kubala, and all nations belong to me. Everyone you see bows before me because I am the chosen one. They are not coerced, they are called.”

Jean Gasho refused to answer around a dozen questions unless she was referred to as a queen.

“When you address me as the Queen then I will answer your question,” she said.

She then starting singing a traditional African song in an attempt to drown out further questions.

‘I was once her’

Rachael Reign established a London-based grassroots group advocating for victims of spiritual abuse and coercive religions.

The Surviving Universal UK founder has become an expert after she was groomed in a church-based cult in the British capital from age 13.

Ms Reign told Sky News the Kingdom of Kubala has all the hallmarks of a cult, but it was difficult to help someone who doesn’t recognise they need support.

She said: “I believe it to be a cult. She had particular vulnerabilities, and she was searching for a sense of community and purpose, and that is how cults target people.

“it is completely normalised. That is her reality, and any kind of critique or grievances is seen as a personal attack on her identity and her community. But she is at risk, she’s been isolated, and she needs to be safeguarded.”

Ms Reign added: “There has to be greater understanding around coercive control in relation to cults.

“Currently coercive control is only recognised within domestic settings which means that victims of coercive control outside of domestic settings fall completely under the radar. There has to be some recognition in terms of legislation.”

The Home Office has been approached for comment.