Prenuptial Agreements in India: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME

- Nishant Kr. Srivastava

Concept of Prenuptial Agreement

A prenuptial agreement, commonly referred to as “ante nuptial agreement, “prenup”, or “premarital agreement,” is an agreements between parties desirous of marrying each other which contains the agreement arrived at between the parties, amicably and on their own free will, that alters or confirms the legal rights and obligations that would otherwise arise under the personal laws governing their marriage, had there been no such prenuptial agreement between such intending parties.

In simple words a prenuptial agreement is basically an agreement between the couple intending to marry, made before marriage that states in case of death or divorce, how the custody of children, monetary liability and division of assets of respective the spouse will take place.

Prenuptial agreements are relatively new in the Indian context, however due to the fact that in present times, the parties to a marriage are more aware about their rights and claims and that nowadays the husband is not the sole bread earner for the family, but also the wife is an equal partner in managing the financial affairs of the family, there has been a growing realisation that the existing personal laws do not take into consideration the present day aspirations and thought process of the young men & women and there is a need for giving recognition both social and legal to the same. In fact, lately the women rights groups in India, more particularly Ministry of Women & Child Development has been trying since 2015 for making prenuptial agreements legally binding in the context of injustice being meted out to women who are deserted by their NRI grooms.