Divorce settlements in the spotlight as court decides status of prenups

The legal status of prenuptial agreements will come under scrutiny in the courts when the ex-husband of an heiress takes his fight for alimony payments to the supreme court. Its decision will finally clarify whether prenups can be decisive in divorce settlements even though they are not legally enforceable in England. Katrin Radmacher, a 39-year-old German heiress, avoided almost £6m in alimony payments to French-born Nicolas Granatino last year after a ruling by the court of appeal upheld the agreement signed by them four months before they married in London. The contact between Radmacher, an heiress worth £100m, and Granatino stated that, other than financial provision for their two children, neither of them would make a financial claim against the other if they split up. But Granatino, the son of a wealthy French industrialist, asked the courts for a divorce settlement of £10m. He was finally awarded £5.8m. The court of appeal overturned the settlement, awarding him £1m.