I’ll be bankrupt if you back pre-nups, heiress's ex-husband tells judges
A university researcher faces bankruptcy if his multi-millionaire heiress wife wins a landmark Supreme Court case to have pre-nuptial agreements recognised in Britain.
Nicolas Granatino, 38, today appealed to the highest court in the land after his divorce settlement was cut from more than £5 million to £1 million when it emerged he had signed a contract renouncing claims to his wife Katrin Radmacher's £100 million.
The case is viewed by lawyers as the ultimate test of whether the agreements are applicable in English law.
Nicholas Mostyn QC, representing Mr Granatino, told nine justices headed by Lord Phillips that the earlier Court of Appeal ruling was wrong because pre-nuptial agreements are not recognised in English law.
The court heard Mr Granatino, a French national, gave up a job in banking to become a £30,000-a-year biotechnology researcher at Oxford University.
He was divorced from his wife, a German heiress to a paper company reputed to be one of the richest women in Europe, in 2007.
The couple had two children aged 10 and seven and spent most of their life together in Chelsea.
The children now live with their mother in Monaco.
Mr Granatino is granted access on alternate weekends and for half the school holidays.
He was initially awarded £4.735 million, plus money to buy a home in Germany to care for the children, and periodical payments of £35,000 a year for each child.
Mr Mostyn said that when Mrs Justice Baron decided the case in the High Court in 2008, she said the pre-nuptial agreement signed in 1998 was "manifestly unfair" because the husband had no separate legal advice, there was no financial disclosure by the wife and it left him with no money on divorce.
The High Court judge had said the pre-nuptial agreement was void but not irrelevant and reduced her award to the husband.
Mr Mostyn said the appeal judges overthrew this ruling, saying "decision weight" should be given to the pre-nuptial agreement.
Until any change in the law, the courts will be guided by the Supreme Court in this case, said Mr Mostyn.
If his appeal at the Supreme Court is dismissed, Mr Granatino must pay back maintenance from his former wife together with all the costs of the case from his reduced lump sum, said Mr Mostyn.
The hearing continues.
