If you suffer injuries as a result of an accident and later split up with your spouse or civil partner, he or she can make a claim against your award. In such circumstances your personal injury settlement is not ring fenced and if you do not take action to protect your settlement, it could end up being treated like any other financial asset of the marriage.
What can you do to protect your personal injury award?
If you are already married you can enter into a post nuptial agreement if both parties are in agreement. If you are not already married before you receive the compensation then you should consider entering in a prenuptial agreement. Both prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements are not as yet binding in Court. They can carry significant weight with the Courts if they are properly drafted by a solicitor and guidelines set out in cases in the higher courts are properly followed.
However even if an injured client is not married and has no intention of getting married, if a house is to be purchased and adapted from the proceeds of the award then it is still essential to consider a cohabitation agreement or declaration of trust to properly set out the injured client’s share in the proceeds, where the injured party is in a cohabiting relationship.
We at Winston Solicitors are experts in this area and are able to prepare an agreement which suits your particular needs.
For more information and to see how such an agreement may be beneficial to your situation, please contact Wendy on 0113 320 5000 or by email on family@winstonsolicitors.co.uk.
Try our our renuptial calculator here to see how much you could save.
