Heiress wins divorce payout appeal - and saves £4.85m

A WEALTHY heiress has won a Supreme Court hearing which will see her former husband receive £1million in their divorce settlement - less than a fifth of what he was initially awarded.

Katrin Radmacher's ex-husband Nicolas Granatino was granted 5.85 million by a High Court Judge, in 2008, when the couple split.

However, a second hearing in the Court of Appeal, said the settlement should have taken into account a pre-nuptial agreement that he would make no claim on her 100m fortune from a German paper company.

He appealed the judgement at the Supreme Court, but lost yesterday in a decision which will strengthen pre-nuptial agreements south of the Border.

Mr Granatino, 38, a French investment banker who became an Oxford University researcher, and Ms Radmacher signed their pre-nup in 1998.

The couple spent most of their married life in Chelsea, west London, until their divorce in 2007. They have two daughters, aged seven and 10.

Appeal judges had ruled that "decisive weight" should be given to the agreement, signed before they married, that he would make no claims on her fortune.

The justices of the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal, saying: "It will be natural to infer that parties entering into agreements will intend that effect be given to them."

Lord Phillips, president of the Supreme Court, said the courts would still have the discretion to waive any pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement, especially when it was unfair to any children of the marriage. Ms Radmacher, who was in court for the ruling, said afterwards: "I know some people think of pre-nuptial agreements as being unromantic, but for us it was meant to be a way of proving you are marrying only for love. It was a natural part of the marriage process. In my case, my father insisted upon it to protect my inheritance.

"Sadly it has taken four years to have our agreement upheld in the British courts. I'm so relieved it's over."

Her solicitor Simon Bruce, head of the family team at Farrer and Co, added: "Katrin never wanted it to come to this. The whole point of a properly-honoured pre-nup is to prevent any such dispute.

"This decision means pre-nups are binding as long as they are fair.

"Everybody hopes their marriage will last a lifetime.From today we are allowed to prepare for the possibility that it might not be the case."

Elizabeth Welsh, chairwoman of the Family Law Association in Scotland, said: "There has been an increasing use of pre-nuptial agreements in Scotland but the Radmacher ruling could be influential in that some enterprising lawyers may look to an English judgement, although it is not binding here.

"Normally there is equal division of matrimonial property but a pre-nuptial agreement allows deviation."

She added: "They are often used to protect wealth either inherited or coming from a successful business built up before the marriage. But they are increasingly used where there is a second marriage.

"There may be a situation where there are children from a first marriage and wealth build up during this time and it is not felt that this wealth should be shared within the second marriage."

Lawyers predict the high profile ruling will lead to a growth in the number of people taking out pre-nuptial agreements.

Stephen Foster, head of the divorce department at Stewarts Law, which has offices across the world, said: "The Supreme Court has created a rich man's, or in the case of Ms Radmacher, a rich woman's charter to drive a hard bargain prior to marriage.

"The trickle of pre-nuptial agreements will now become a torrent."

Pre-nuptial agreements have been recognised under Scots law for 25 years under the Family Law (Scotland) Act 1985.