Vaibhav Gwalani, SVKM’s NMIMS’ Kirit P. Mehta School of Law
Abstract
The concept of Marriage is considered to be a sacrament relationship in India, i.e. a holy relationship of the purest form, and as such it is heavily frowned upon to have any kind of talks about divorce in the country when it comes to such relationships. Divorce is a concept that comes post wedding; however, there is another concept that talks about it prior to the wedding, it is one of a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement (hereinafter referred to as a prenup) is a legal document signed by two consenting adults before they get married. The agreement entails provisions as to what will happen to their possessions and/or children if they divorce.
While there are traces of such agreements throughout the course of history, their concept and definitions have evolved over time and as such they are still a new concept in many countries like India (mostly the entire Asian Subcontinent). Even in western countries like The States or the UK, proper laws governing such agreements did not come into existence until very recently. Most courts in the United States have started enforcing prenups if they meet certain formal requirements.2 The law surrounding prenups in the United States is not a stable one, it is subject to very rapid changes as a result of demographic and cultural trends. The major challenge in the regarding the law is that there are fifty states in the country and all of them have their own laws regarding prenups.
The aim of this paper is to study the concept of Prenuptial Agreements, their origin and history, to collect data by conduction primary research in the form of a survey and collection responses for the same, based on said data, the viability of prenuptial agreements in a country like India will be established.
Keywords: Marriage, Prenups, Agreement, Divorce, Respondent.
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