MARRIAGE SETTLEMENTS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4715, 23 June 1924, Page 1

MARRIAGE SETTLEMENTS

PASSING OF A WISE OLD CUSTOM.

• IMPORTANCE OVERLOOKED. Since 1913 1 have not been asked to prepare a marriage settlement, though previously it was almost a weekly event in my office (writes “A Solicitor”, in the “Daily News”). No young ( lady would think of marriage until the terms- of a settlement had been drawn up and some provision made for her in .the event of her husband’s death. Now, however, marriage settlemei ts seem to be a thing of the past except in the highest circles. Prior to the war the first thing that happened when an engagement was announced, or even contemplated, was for the family solicitor to be called in to discuss the terms of a settlement. The prospective husband or his parents would agree to hahd a few thousand pounds to trustees to invest, so that the wife would receive the income during her life, arid that on her death the capital should be divided between her children. If the bridegroom did not possess any money to settle he would agree to insure his life for such a sum as, in the event of his death, would guarantee an adequate income to his wife, and the policy would be assigned to trustees, who would see th'at the premiums were regularly paid to keep the policy alive. In addition, the girl’s parents would usually settle a sum on their daughter. j The settlement was drawn up at. the rbidegroom’s expense, and on the night before the wedding the faniily lawyer would be invited to dinner, and afterwards the settlement would be executed with due formality by the parents, the bride and bridegroom, and the trustees, so that on the following day the bride could go to the altar satisfied that some provision hiad been made for her. I Nowadays the advantages of a marriage settlement appear to be overlooked. Whether it is that the emancipation of women has made them independent of any provision by their husbands, or that money is so scarce that only the very rich can afford settlements, is difficult to say, but it is certainly a mistake on the wife's part not to insist on some arrangement for her future finances. : The need for settlements is much more important than it was in ancient times, when a man was bound to leave a share of his property to his ■wife. Now he can cut her off with the proverbial shilling, or even less, and if he. makes a will immediately after the marriage, leaving her everything, there is nothing whatever to prevent him, unknown to her, altering his will the next day and bequeat! ing all his property to the dogs’ home. Tt i.s perhaps, a flaw in our legal system that a man should thus be able to leave his wife penniless, and for this reason, if for no other, it Is a matter for regret that the idea of marriage settlements Is so rapidly dying out.