Prenups for Pensioners
The blog title is to grab your attention. Statistically, if you are nearing retirement or are retired, you are more likely to need the services of a prenuptial agreement solicitor than someone in their 20s, 30s or even 40s.
In this blog, our family law solicitors explain why a prenuptial agreement is required, whether you are a retiree or a bit younger.
Contact Evolve Family Law for specialist family law advice.
Marriage statistics
The Centre for Social Justice published a report in February 2026 ‘’I DO? The state of marriage in the United Kingdom.’’ The report highlights:
- The marriage rate among male pensioners is almost a third higher than for men in their early 20s.
- The marriage rate among men and women in their 20s has fallen by about 90% over the last 50 years.
- In 2023, the average age at marriage for men was 34.8 years and for women 33 years. The average age for marriage has continued to rise.
The statistics, mainly sourced from the Office for National Statistics, explain why family law solicitors have seen an increase in enquiries about prenuptial agreements from those marrying later in life.
Prenup agreements for later-life marriages
Ask a prenuptial agreement lawyer, and they will tell you that you should sign a prenuptial agreement whether you are getting married in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s or later. However, there may be particularly compelling reasons why you should take legal advice on a prenuptial agreement if you are getting married or remarried in later life:
- You are more likely to have children from a first or second marriage or a cohabiting relationship.
- You are more likely to be a homeowner.
- You may have contributed to a pension for most of your working life.
- You may be due to receive a substantial inheritance from your parents.
- You may be a business owner or have substantial cash or investments following the sale of a family business.
These are all solid financial reasons for signing a prenuptial agreement. However, many engaged couples who are remarrying after an earlier divorce choose to sign a prenuptial agreement because they do not want to risk a bitter and expensive court fight over how their assets are divided if they divorce. The strength of their views on the importance of a prenuptial agreement is often coloured by the animosity and complexity of the financial remedy proceedings that ended their first or second marriage.
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Tax planning and prenups
For some couples, the decision to marry is tax-related. A couple may have been in a loving and stable relationship for 20-plus years and see no reason to marry, except for the tax benefits.
If you are in an unmarried relationship and you pass away, your estate pays inheritance tax and does not get the benefit of a spouse exemption. If you marry and leave your estate to your spouse in your Will, there is normally no inheritance tax payable because of the spouse exemption rule.
The IHT spouse exemption rules apply whether a testator was married for five months or 25 years at the date of their death. Likewise, there are no tax concessions for unmarried couples, even if a cohabiting relationship lasted for over 25 years. Inheritance tax efficiencies, therefore, encourage later-life marriage. Those who are financially savvy often want to combine tax and estate planning with a new Will, Lasting Power of Attorney, and a prenuptial agreement.
Adult children and prenups
If you have adult children, you may be wary of remarriage because you do not want your children to lose out financially by your decision to remarry. Most people have heard horror stories of six-month second marriages, with the new spouse getting all their deceased spouse’s money, and the adult children of the deceased parent losing out and inheriting nothing when their parent died. On the death of the step-parent, the entire estate might then be left to the step-parent’s biological children or to charity.
A prenuptial agreement can protect the person getting married from the risks of divorce. A carefully drawn up Will can protect both the new spouse and children from earlier relationships from feeling that their spouse or parent made no provision for them.
Wills, estate planning and prenups working together
If you are getting married or entering a second or third marriage in your later years, it is important that you have both a Will and a prenuptial agreement. The two documents do different things, and their contents can be the same or different.
A Will governs what your spouse inherits if you die. A prenuptial agreement only covers what happens if you separate and divorce.
In your Will, you may want to give your spouse the right to live in the family home for life or for a specified period. The Will could state that when the property is sold, your children are to receive the sale proceeds. Alternatively, the Will may divide your estate between your spouse and your children or include a discretionary trust enabling your trustees to advance capital or income to your spouse and children from prior relationships to ensure all their needs are catered for.
A prenuptial agreement may be less generous to your spouse than your Will, as it will only be relevant if you are separating. While you may not want your spouse to get anything if you divorce, your prenuptial agreement lawyer will recommend that the terms of your family agreement are fair and cover your spouse’s needs. Depending on the extent of your spouse’s individual wealth or joint assets, your spouse may need extra money from you to meet their housing needs or income needs if you divorce. This may be particularly true if you are marrying later in life and your spouse cannot obtain a mortgage because of their age or has a reduced earning capacity due to their age or health.
Talk to Evolve Family Law
At Evolve, our lawyers specialise in prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, estate planning and Wills. If you intend to marry, our experts can advise on what needs to be done to make your prenuptial agreement as water-tight as possible and provide estate planning advice to go alongside your relationship agreement.
