The UK Law Commission's recently proposed reform of the law to make pre-nuptial agreements enforceable will call time on huge payouts for divorcing wives, Sandra Davis, head of the family law department at London-headquartered law firm Mishcon de Reya, told WealthBriefing.

Pre-nuptial agreements are currently only enforceable on divorce to the extent a judge decides to hold the parties to their agreement. "As a result, London is viewed as the world's divorce capital", said Ms Davis.

"The proposed reforms will bring the UK in line with our European partners and other western democracies. This signals the beginning of the end for forum shopping - and when London is no longer seen as the ' Bond Street' forum, the beginning of the end of huge payouts for divorcing wives," she said.

According to Ms Davis, the certainty offered by the full recognition of pre-nuptial agreements (enabling a departure from a default position of equal division of marital assets) only becomes possible once two pre-conditions are met. "First, the overall judicial discretion to attach such weight as the court thinks fit to the terms of any such agreement has to be removed and secondly, the elementary requirements for enforceability of pre-nups and the extent of the courts’ residual 'interests of justice' discretion must be defined.

"As a result, there is likely to be a rush of wives seeking a divorce prior to the inevitable change in the law.  Equally, we are predicting a significant increase in the incidence of high net worth and high income clients seeking advice on pre-nuptial agreements in anticipation of their becoming binding."