[War & Business] Prenuptial Agreement Disputes

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] One of the topics that drew attention when Bill and Melinda Gates recently announced their divorce was whether they had a prenuptial agreement. Contrary to expectations that the meticulous Gates couple would have certainly drawn up a prenuptial agreement, it was revealed that they did not have one when they married in 1994. It is known that only a divorce settlement was prepared during this divorce.

Although still unfamiliar in Korea, prenuptial agreements have been widely spread in Western societies since the Middle Ages. Especially in royal families, where not only personal property but even countries could be divided upon divorce, prenuptial agreements were drafted very specifically and most were notarized by the Roman Papal Court.

The prenuptial agreement also played a hidden role in the decisive deterioration of relations between France and England, known as Europe's greatest rivals. In 1137, the prenuptial agreement between Louis VII, King of France, and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, stated that "Eleanor's inherited territories shall be inherited by her son, not her husband," which became the seed of conflict.

At that time in Europe, the ‘mutual inheritance system’ was common, where the surviving spouse inherited all the territories of the deceased spouse. Thanks to this system, the Habsburg family, known as Europe's greatest noble house, once unified almost all of Europe except France without shedding a drop of blood. Because of this, European royal families regarded the mutual inheritance system as a kind of gamble and were busy marrying their children into countries with weak princes or princesses.

Eleanor's father, William X, feared that this mutual inheritance system could put Eleanor at risk of assassination, so he limited the heir to the son born to the couple. The problem was that Louis VII and Eleanor had only two daughters, and after Louis VII left for the Crusades, making it impossible for the couple to meet, the possibility of a son being born disappeared.

Consequently, Eleanor divorced Louis VII and married Henry II, King of England, and bore a son. As a result, more than half of her inherited French territories passed to England, becoming a major cause of the Hundred Years' War between the two countries. Since then, Western societies have placed great importance on prenuptial agreements and property division issues.

Korean courts have yet to recognize the validity of prenuptial agreements, but issues of property division before and after marriage have already emerged as significant social issues. As real estate prices soar, it has become difficult to buy a house without parental help, involving assets from both families. Although it may be a harsh reality, the problem has gone beyond what can be overcome by love alone between spouses, and it has reached a situation where courts need to establish clear standards.