Whether you’re jumping the broom, circling the fire seven times, or borrowing something blue, marriage is a universal concept that comes with its own set of unspoken conditions. In an instance two lives share the betters and worse, the health and sickness, and what is mine becomes ours.
However, the institute of marriage has changed with the times, just like many spouses do as the dissolution of their marriage continues. Katrina Radmicher, an heiress to her family’s papermaking business, which is worth £100 million, faced a tumultuous divorce with her ex-husband Nicolas Granatino. Granatino, a French investment banker, whose net worth was £6 million, claimed that he had hampered his career as a researcher at Oxford University as a result of their marriage. In accordance to their prenuptial agreement, Granatino claimed that he would take none of his ex-wife’s fortune in the case of the dissolution of their marriage. During their 2006 divorce case, Granatino and his lawyer claimed that he should receive £5.85 million of their cumulative fortune.
Given that they had been married in Germany and the divorce settlement had occurred in England, the terms of the prenuptials existing conditions were rather problematic. Consquently, Granatino’s claims were overturned; he received £1 million and £2.5 million in funds for a house, which he would return to their younger daughter reaches the age of 22. Was his marriage to Radmicher the penultimate to regression of his career or financial stability?
A majority of people would not think twice to nullify any argument as to the practicality of a prenuptial, deeming it unromantic in the grandeur of marriage and love. Isn’t the idea of marriage about love and not financial motive? Therefore, the idea of signing a paper to prove the dissolution of such ulterior motives should not be considered taboo.
Marriage can dissolve within a course of time due to numerous reasons which include infidelity, lacking a vision of success, losing one’s self identity or loss in intimacy with financial reasons being the cause 45% of the time, the predominant reason for divorce according to the New York Times.
As one walks into the binds of marriage their mindsets are calm, centred and sound, a state in which the best decisions are made. Consider this and the unknown outcome of matrimonial life; the enraged parties of a divorce only further lengthen this painful process sometimes involving children to witness the ordeal.
Signing a prenuptial is simply a mature and practical mannerism to resolve any ‘what ifs’, in the case that a marriage goes awry. Settlements of financial belonging, monetary assets and other respective conditions are settled whilst both parties have an unperturbed state of mind. One can think of it like insurance; our cars and homes may be in pristine condition however is it a crime to protect something we have earned? If the marriage may falter due to the wrongdoings of one party, the other should definitely not have to suffer. Is it really cynical to protect the one constant in our lives, ourselves?