This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Define the terms of the marriage contract and legalise nuptial agreements
Pass a simple law that states in plain English: a. What the default marriage contract is when there is no nuptial agreement; b. That pre- or post-nuptial agreements between spouses are valid under contract law. It should apply to all existing and future marriages
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The marriage contract is the most important contract most people's lives, yet in England and Wales the terms are unknown!
Other western democracies have a clear marriage contract published on the Internet (typically, assets and debts accumulated during the marriage are owned 50/50).
A contract between spouses should be just as valid as between anyone else.
The present law discourages marriage for anyone who has any assets. The proposed law would make it a reasonable step for anyone to take.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
We can't publish petitions when the request is something that's already happening or something that has been announced since you started your petition.
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The legal rights if spouses are already set out in law, and it's not clear what you mean by asking for the "terms of the marriage contract" to be set out.
People who have entered into prenuptial agreements can already seek to enforce these through the courts, but decisions about the legality of these agreements is a matter for the courts, not the Government or Parliament.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.