UK court backs heiress,upholds pre-nup

It is a victory for Katrin Radmacher,40,a paper industry heiress with a fortune of at least 55 million,and a defeat for her former husband Nicolas Granatino,39,a former investment banker who had been seeking a greater share of her wealth than had been spelled out in their pre-nup.

Radmacher is German,her ex-husband French. They married,lived and divorced in England. The pre-nuptial agreement was signed in Germany,and would have been recognised in both France and Germany,where pre-nups are commonly upheld.

For Nicolas and I,in our homelands8230; these agreements are entirely normal and routine, Radmacher said. We made a promise to each other that if anything went wrong between us,both of us would walk away without making financial claims on each other. The promise made to me was broken.

The heiress appeared nervous before the ruling. She sat only a few feet from Granatino unkempt in jeans and a sweater but the two did not exchange pleasantries or even glance at each other. The couple married in 1998,had two daughters and separated eight years later.

Granatino sporting both an iPhone and a BlackBerry declined to comment after the defeat.

Radmachers lawyer,Simon Bruce,said the decision is a landmark ruling that means pre-nups are binding as long as they are fair.

Granatino was awarded almost 6 million in a divorce settlement,but a court last year slashed the payment,citing the pre-nup as justification. The appeals court said he should receive a lump sum of 1 million plus,a 2.5 million loan for a house that will be returned when the youngest of the couples daughters reaches the age of 22.

The Supreme Court backed that decision,ruling that the couple freely entered into the agreement and that it should be upheld.