Why the advertised price is rarely the total you'll pay — and how to understand the real cost for your situation.
⚠ Not legal advice. We may receive a referral fee if you take action through links on this site. Full disclosure below.
A straightforward prenup costs £2,500–£4,500 in total for both parties (ex-VAT), including independent legal advice for each partner. Complex or HNW cases cost £6,000–£15,000 or more. VAT at 20% applies on all solicitor fees.
When you see a solicitor advertising a prenup service for a specific price — say £1,500 or £2,000 — this is almost always the per-party cost, not the total cost for both partners. Since both partners require separate solicitors under UK law (to meet the procedural criteria in Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42), the true total is roughly double the advertised rate, plus VAT.
The total cost you will pay includes solicitor fees for both partners obtaining independent legal advice, the cost of drafting the agreement itself (whether from a template or bespoke), and VAT at 20% applied to all solicitor fees. The range of £2,500–£4,500 ex-VAT represents a straightforward case with no major assets to negotiate or disputes between the two solicitors.
More complex cases — involving business interests, property held in multiple names, overseas assets, trusts, pensions requiring actuarial valuation, or extended negotiation between the two solicitors — will cost more. High net worth cases often exceed £10,000 total, and may reach £20,000 or more if the financial situation is very intricate.
It is also important to understand that VAT at 20% applies to all solicitor fees. So if two solicitors together charge £3,000 ex-VAT, you will pay £3,600 in total including VAT. This is a material additional cost that should be factored into your budget.
Four main drivers determine prenup cost: the complexity and number of asset types, the level of negotiation required between the two solicitors, geographic location (London rates significantly higher), and the extent of financial disclosure required.
Several factors will influence the final cost you pay for your prenup. Understanding these will help you estimate your own costs more accurately.
When you are comparing quotes from solicitors, it is worth asking them to break down what is included in their quoted price. Does it include drafting, independent legal advice, certification, and attendance at a signing appointment? Or is that a separate charge? Ask whether it is fixed fee or hourly, and what happens if negotiations take longer than anticipated.
When both routes include the mandatory independent legal advice that courts require, the cost gap between an online template and a bespoke solicitor narrows to a few hundred pounds — while the quality gap remains substantial.
Many couples discover prenup templates online and are attracted by the advertised cost — often £100–£700 for the template document itself. This seems like a dramatic saving compared with solicitor fees of £1,500 or £2,000 per party. However, this initial price advantage evaporates when you account for the full legal process required to make a prenup that will carry weight in a UK court.
For any prenup to meet the Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42 criteria and receive meaningful court weight, both parties must obtain independent legal advice from separate solicitors. This ILA is not optional — it is foundational to the legal position. The solicitor's role is to advise their client on the terms, ensure their client understands them, and certify that advice has been given. This is required whether the underlying document came from a template or was drafted by solicitors.
This is the critical insight: the template cost is often advertised as the total, but it is only the document. The true total must include both solicitors' fees for independent legal advice, which you will pay regardless of whether you started with a template or instructed solicitors to draft from scratch.
Let us compare the two routes in detail:
Despite advertised prices of £100–£700, the true total of the online template route — including mandatory independent legal advice for both parties — typically falls between £3,800 and £5,200 ex-VAT. The template cost is a small fraction of the total.
Here is how the true cost of the template route breaks down:
| Cost Item | Estimate (ex-VAT) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Online prenup template | £100 – £700 | Advertised price; generic document |
| Your independent legal advice (ILA) | £1,200 – £1,800 | Separate solicitor, mandatory |
| Partner's independent legal advice | £1,200 – £1,800 | Different solicitor, also mandatory |
| True total (ex-VAT) | £2,500 – £4,300 | Add 20% VAT on solicitor fees |
When VAT is added at 20% on the solicitor fees (not on the template itself), the true total rises to approximately £3,800–£5,200 in total cost.
The online template route can make sense for couples who are confident in their own understanding of their assets and comfortable with a generic document. However, remember that a generic template cannot be tailored to your specific situation — it will not reflect the particular structure of your business, your overseas assets, or your unique family circumstances. The solicitors then reviewing the template must still invest time in checking whether it is adequate for your situation, which may require modifications or additional clauses.
The template is not a shortcut to independent legal advice. The solicitors still need to understand your financial position, explain the terms to you, and certify they have done so. That work takes time and costs money, regardless of whether the underlying document came from a template or was drafted fresh.
A bespoke prenup drafted and advised on by specialist solicitors for both parties typically totals £2,800–£5,000 ex-VAT for a straightforward case — a difference of only a few hundred pounds from the template route, with a materially stronger agreement.
When you instruct solicitors directly to draft your prenup, the cost structure looks like this:
| Cost Item | Estimate (ex-VAT) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your solicitor (draft + advise) | £1,500 – £3,000 | Bespoke drafting, ILA included |
| Partner's solicitor (review + advise) | £1,000 – £2,000 | Independent review, ILA included |
| True total (ex-VAT) | £2,500 – £5,000 | Add 20% VAT on all fees |
With VAT, the total is approximately £3,000–£6,000.
The key difference is that the drafting solicitor takes time to understand your specific assets, business structure, family circumstances, and goals. They then draft a document tailored to your situation, not a generic template. The reviewing solicitor acts independently, checking the draft document for fairness and raising any concerns on their client's behalf.
This bespoke approach produces a stronger document — one that reflects your actual situation and is less likely to be challenged later on grounds that it does not adequately protect one party or fails to address a significant asset.
A well-drafted prenup that reflects your situation is far more likely to be upheld by a court and to achieve the financial protection you intended. The small cost difference (£200–£800 in most cases) is a worthwhile investment in getting the right document.
Interactive Tool
Enter your asset values below to get an indicative cost range and complexity assessment for your prenup. This tool provides a guide based on total asset value. Business assets increase complexity by one tier. Results are indicative only — not a quote or legal advice.
⚠ Not legal advice. We may receive a referral fee if you take action through links on this site. Full disclosure below.
Templates are cheaper upfront but still require independent legal advice for both parties — bringing true costs close to bespoke. They produce a generic document that cannot handle complex assets. A bespoke solicitor route costs only slightly more in practice and produces a significantly stronger, court-evidenced agreement.
Here is a detailed side-by-side comparison of the two approaches:
| Factor | Online Template | Specialist Solicitor |
|---|---|---|
| Advertised cost | £100 – £700 | £1,500 – £3,000 per party |
| True total (both parties) | £2,500 – £5,200 ex-VAT | £2,500 – £5,000 ex-VAT |
| Independent legal advice included? | ✗ Must be sourced separately | ✓ Included in service |
| Bespoke to your situation? | △ Generic template adapted | ✓ Fully bespoke drafting |
| Business / trust / overseas assets? | ✗ Not suitable for complex assets | ✓ Handles all asset types |
| Financial disclosure managed? | ✗ DIY — risk of omissions | ✓ Solicitor-guided process |
| Court enforceability | △ Weaker — generic drafting | ✓ Stronger — specialist evidence trail |
| Scotland-appropriate? | ✗ Rarely | ✓ If Scottish solicitor instructed |
The comparison shows clearly that when you account for the full cost (including mandatory independent legal advice for both parties), the template and bespoke routes are financially similar. The deciding factor should be quality and suitability, not advertised price.
If your assets are straightforward — a property and modest savings — either route can work. If you have a business, overseas assets, trusts, or complex financial arrangements, a bespoke route is strongly recommended. A template simply cannot be adapted effectively to protect specialized assets.
Scotland has a separate legal system. Under Scots law, prenuptial agreements that meet certain requirements are treated more directly as binding contracts — a meaningfully different position from England and Wales. If you live in Scotland, seek advice from a solicitor qualified in Scots family law. Information on this site primarily covers England and Wales.
Common questions about prenup costs in the UK, answered plainly — from minimum wealth thresholds to whether a prenup can be made after the wedding.
No. There is no minimum asset value that makes a prenup worthwhile or not. The decision depends on whether you have specific assets you wish to protect — a property, a business, savings, an inheritance — rather than total net worth. Even relatively modest assets may justify the cost and clarity a prenup provides. A couple with one property worth £150,000 with £30,000 equity, some savings, and no other assets can benefit from a prenup that ring-fences that equity. Conversely, a high-income couple with few assets may not find a prenup necessary. The question is: do you have specific assets you wish to protect or keep separate? If yes, a prenup may be worth exploring.
Not a prenup — but you can make a postnuptial agreement after marriage. Courts in England and Wales treat postnuptial agreements similarly to prenuptial agreements, applying broadly the same Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42 criteria. The test is whether both parties freely entered into the agreement with full financial disclosure and independent legal advice, and whether it is fair to enforce. Both parties still require separate independent legal advice. Postnuptial agreements are sometimes made when circumstances change — a business is acquired, an inheritance is received, or the financial position of one party shifts significantly. A postnuptial agreement formalizes how that new asset should be treated. However, a postnuptial agreement made after marriage may be treated with slightly less weight than a prenuptial agreement made with time and reflection before the marriage. If a postnuptial agreement is made very close to or during a separation, courts may scrutinize it more carefully for signs that one party was under pressure.
No. A prenup sets out whatever terms the two parties agree — not a mandatory 50/50 split. Common approaches include ring-fencing pre-marital assets while sharing growth during the marriage, or protecting a business while sharing other assets fairly. Another approach is an unequal split that reflects the different contributions or needs of the two parties. The terms must not be unconscionable at the time of enforcement to carry full weight in court. An agreement that leaves one party destitute or unable to meet basic needs may be challenged. But broadly, the parties have freedom to contract to whatever division they both agree to, provided the process is fair and the result is not manifestly unjust at the time of divorce.
Generally no. Legal fees for prenuptial agreements are personal legal costs and are not deductible for income tax or corporation tax purposes in the UK. They are a personal expense, not a business expense. If business assets are involved and a solicitor is advising on both the prenup and the tax treatment of the business, the portion of fees attributable to business tax advice may potentially be deductible, but this should not be assumed without specific advice. For personal prenup fees, assume they are not deductible and factor them into your budget accordingly. This does not affect VAT recovery for business purposes, which is a separate issue.
A fixed-fee prenup means the solicitor charges a set amount for the full service — drafting, advising, and certification — rather than billing hourly. Fixed fees provide cost certainty: you know upfront what you will pay. They are most suitable for straightforward cases where the solicitor can reliably estimate the time required. For complex assets, hourly billing may be more appropriate and ultimately cheaper if negotiations resolve quickly. Some solicitors offer a fixed fee for the initial prenup work plus hourly billing if complications arise. When comparing quotes, ask whether the quoted price is fixed fee or hourly, and what the hourly rate is if there is a possibility of additional charges.
⚠ Not legal advice. We may receive a referral fee if you take action through links on this site. Full disclosure below.
See our independent comparison of the best UK prenup services — from specialist solicitors to transparent online options.
⚠ Not legal advice. We may receive a referral fee if you take action through links on this site. Full disclosure below.