Members of one of the area's largest family law teams have criticised the views of the Marriage Foundation who yesterday claimed there is no need to make pre and post-nuptial agreements binding.
Lawyers at GHP Legal say that such agreements are necessary, especially for couples considering second time marriages and who want to ring-fence previously accumulated assets for children of a previous marriage.
The firm, which has offices in Wrexham, Llangollen and Oswestry and has been offering clients pre-nuptial agreements for several years, made its feelings clear on the day the Law Commission advised the government to update the law and make the agreements binding.
Solicitor Natalie Roberts said: "As family lawyers who always have the children of broken marriages at the forefront of our minds we firmly believe in the constitution of marriage, but being realistic we know that some marriages that break down are simply not retrievable.
"That being the case it is important to protect the children and it is equally important that their parents have the opportunity to rebuild their lives. However, it is often the case that divorcees do not make a second commitment because they are worried about previously accumulated assets.
"For the Marriage Foundation to claim that drawing up a pre-nuptial agreement is to say ‘my money is more important than our commitment' is not an accurate analysis of most situations. Neither is it the case that only a very small minority of very wealthy people would want such an agreement.
"In our experience there is a growing number of ordinary people wanting to enter into an agreement about how their property or finances should be shared if their relationship breaks down. The important thing is to ensure that the agreement has been properly drawn up by experienced lawyers and that both parties to the agreement have made full disclosure of their assets."