Pre-nup

Hi all. My STBXW advised of her intention to divorce some weeks ago. She had previously inherited quite a large some of money (I never knew or asked how much). Before we got married, I agreed to sign a pre-nup although due to the awkwardness, and assumption it would never be required (one doesnt go into a marriage expecting to get divorced, I suppose), I never read the agreement throughly (i know, I know!) nor did I seek legal representation. Bascially, I signed it without question so we could move past it. Well, here I am now getting divorced but I am unsure what I am entitled to within the financial settlement? We were only married 4 years with no kids. She wanted to buy a marital home for us in Edinburgh which I agreed to as it made sense to live mortgage free. I appreciate this is difficult to answer considering I stupidly didnt read what I was signing but I'm looking to see if anyone has been through a similar process? The home, whilst bought with her inheritance, was purchased after marriage and in her name. Does this count towards matrimonial property or do pre-nups cover anything bought during the marriage with inheritence? She earns consideribly more than me, and accrued money via shares, during the marriage so would the interest be considerend MP also? Ultimately, I know I will receive some money back as aside from large purhcases (kitchen, garden paid for via her inheritance), we both paid the same amount into the joint account and generally everything was split 50/50. Any advice, or those who experienced similar, would be appreciated as all of the info online is quite muddy.

If you're living in Edinburgh, then Scottish law applies. So in that case only assets accrued during the marriage are available for division. She will keep what she brought to the marriage and any inheritance. The same will apply to you.

I'm assuming you're not looking for spousal maintenance anyway but in Scotland you have more chance of seeing the Loch Ness Monster than getting any awarded.

So all in all, the pre-nup probably isn't that important. It might have become more important if you had been married for longer and more assets had accrued I guess but it doesn't sound like it will make a huge difference on 4 years of assets accrued?

Thanks for the response. Well I'm not looking for spousal maintenance as I earn enough with my salary. So even though the house was bought with her inheritance, post marriage, and is in her name, I could still be entitled to half of the property value? I've been looking online as to whether anything bought after the marriage such as a house intended to be a family home, could be ring fenced in the pre nup. However I can't see anything pertaining specifically to this kind of scenario.

Good grief no. Scotland has a fair legal system. It's not a crazy legal system like England. Inheritance will be ring fenced as will any pre-marital assets.

You'll get half of any gain in value since the marital home was bought. So if say it was bought for £100k and is now worth £150k, you'd get £25k.

To be fair for a short marriage without issue it would be a similar outcome in England I guess.

Ah ok, that makes sense. She bought the house for 500k, after we got married with her inheritance, and a solicitor suggested I'm maybe entitled to half the value of the house as any post marital purchases are unlikely to be included in a pre nup as it would be classified as matrimonial property. Thank you for clarifying though!

Was it an English or Scottish solicitor who advised you? In England, some solicitors might advise you could get half but after a four year marriage it's not likely even in England (some solicitors promise the earth in the hope you hire them).

It was a Scottish solicitor. He suggested that whilst any pre marital assets would be protected (as expected) the home she purchased might be considered matrimonial property as it was bought after marriage. I wasn't expecting that anyway but the info online is confusing!